Back Here at Home
by noturbaby
Summary: Buffy returns to Sunnydale after her summer as Anne in LA with the Winchesters, but being home isn't easy. Trouble still finds her. There's Zombies,& Synder hasn't let her into school yet. Second part to How I spent my Summer Vacation  eventual pairing
1. Chapter 1

Title: Back Here At Home

Author: noturbaby

Rating: PG-13  
>Warnings: none except that its a multi chapter WIP<br>Fandoms: Buffy the Vampire Slayer/ Supernatural

Summary: Buffy returns to Sunnydale after her summer as Anne in LA with the Winchesters, but being home isn't as easy as she hoped. Trouble still finds her. There's Zombies for one thing, and Synder hasn't even let her into school yet. Sam and Dean help her the best they can. A second part to my story: How I Spent my Summer Vacation

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

* * *

><p>The first few chapters are based on the <em>Buffy<em> Season 3 episode _Dead Man's Party_.

Oz tugged lightly on Willow's hand getting her attention immediately. "You ready?" he asked.

Willow grinned and nodded. "Xander? Cordelia? It's time."

"I don't understand why I have to be bait," Cordelia whined.

"Because he's seen the rest of us," Xander began, "so you go be 'baity' and we'll take cover."

"Then what?"

"Then the vamp jumps you, kills you, we rejoice, then we stake the vamp."

Cordelia stalked off. "Xander Harris, I'm doing this for Buffy. This has nothing to do with you." She crossed the clearing and was about to take a seat when a vamp, formerly known as Andy Hoelich, appeared.

"Hey, don't I know you?" he rasped at her.

Cordelia blinked in fear before she replied with fake bravado, "Oh, Andy, and to think I used to think you were cute." She looked around in panic, "Guys?"

Oz, Willow, and Xander emerged from their hiding spots. Andy the vamp grabbed Cordelia and threw her into Willow, making both girls collapse. Xander grabbed him from behind, "I got him, someone stake him already!"

Oz approached with stake raised, but Andy was faster. He leaned into Xander, kicked Oz and flipped over Xander. Drawing his lips back in a sneer that revealed his fangs, Andy growled, "Harris, you really think you're a match for me?"

Before Xander could reply, a gunshot was heard and Andy gasped, but didn't fall. Two men rushed into the clearing. One barked, "Get down!" while the other decapitated Andy Hoelich.

The older one looked at the Scooby gang. "You kids get home, now; it's dangerous around here."

"Yeah, what with all the gunfire and the knife play," Xander quipped barely concealing his attitude. "We had it under control."

The other man walked over to Willow and Cordelia and offered each a hand to assist them to their feet. "You two okay?"

Both girls were at a loss for words at first, then Cordelia composed herself enough to answer, "Yes, thanks to you."

The guy smiled. "All in a night's work. But, my dad's right, this is no place for two girls as fine as yourselves." Willow blushed furiously, but Cordelia glowed under the attention.

"Well, we're safe, now," Cordelia purred at him.

The other hunter holstered his gun and did a quick check of the area. "Okay 'Mr. We had it under control', the two of us actually know what we're doing. Why don't you and the romper room set get out of here before anyone gets hurt."

"That's probably not a bad idea," Oz said walking over to Willow and grabbing her hand, effectively staking his claim on her.

"We know what we're doing," Xander said in gruff voice mocking the hunter. "Sure you do. That's why you think bullets can stop a vampire." Xander picked up the stakes Cordelia and Willow had dropped and muttered, "I can't wait for the Slayer to come home so we can finally be rid of these hunters."

"Some aren't so bad," Cordelia said looking back at the younger one and giving him a finger wave.

* * *

><p>The next night found the Winchesters patrolling the Restfield Cemetery. At first, Dean had been amused by the idea of killing vampires, but the sheer number of vampires, monsters, and demons in this town shocked him. Had Buffy really been able to keep all of them under control by herself?<p>

Dean wasn't given the chance to ponder his question for long. A slight rustling was the first sign, then three vampires came into view. John's training had prepared Dean for most anything the vampires threw at him, however, their strength surprised him. With both Winchesters occupied with a vampire, the third escaped into the nearby woods. "Which way did he go?" John asked as he finished off his vampire.

Dean shook the 'dust' off himself. "The woods."

"We're going to have to split up. You come across any trouble, you yell, got me?"

"Yes, sir."

"And Dean, shoot first." Dean nodded and in near silence, made his way into the woods. He had only gone about ten yards when he heard a slight commotion ahead. As quietly as he could, he made his way closer, preparing to fire his gun, if needed. A moment later and the woods was silent again. Dean cursed to himself and took one more step. *SNAP* A twig under foot alerted everything to Dean's presence and the woods suddenly became alive with noise.

A second later, Dean was grabbed by the shoulder and tossed into a tree. Adrenaline quickening his reflexes was the only thing bringing his hand up in time to capture the wrist of a girl with a stake in her hand. "Buffy?" he gasped wide-eyed.

"Dean?" Buffy released her hold on him immediately. "What are you doing here?"

Dean looked around for his father. "We came here straight from L.A. When did you get here?" He whispered.

"Today."

"Your watcher know you're back?"

Buffy looked confused. "Yes, I just saw him. Why are we whispering?"

"My dad." Dean listened for a moment. "It wouldn't be good for him to find us out here like this." A distant noise attracted his attention. "Did you see a vampire -"

"Yep, dusted him."

Dean grinned. "Cool. You should go. I'll stop my dad."

Buffy nodded and took a step. "Can you meet me later?" she asked turning back. "Do you know a place called the Bronze?"

"I can find it."

Buffy smiled and ran nearly silently, while Dean called for his father. "Dad! Got him."

* * *

><p>It took some convincing, but when Dean threw in the promise to take Sam with him, John allowed them to go to the Bronze. On the drive there, Dean decided to confess to Sam. "You'll never believe who I saw tonight."<p>

"Do I care?" Sam rolled his eyes in disinterest making his brother smirk.

"I don't know if you care or not, but it turns out that Annie the waitress is also Buffy the vampire slayer and she's back in Sunnydale." Dean tried not to laugh at his brother's expression. "She's who were meeting at the Bronze."

Sam saw Buffy the moment she walked in and though she was looking around, she didn't seem to notice them. Her expression went from hopeful to disappointed as she made her way across the room. When she did finally notice the Winchesters, her face broke into a wide smile.

"Hey, you guys, I'm glad you showed."

Sam smiled back. "Yeah, it took some work to convince Dad, but he finally let us out."

Buffy looked around again. "I was hoping my friends would be here. I'd love for them to meet you."

"Do they know you're back?" Dean asked.

"Not yet."

"But you and your friends come here a lot?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, it's our usual hang. Also, kinda the only hang in town, which makes it easy."

Sam grinned at that. "What do your friends look like? Maybe we can help spot them."

"My best friend, Willow has red hair and Xander is tall like you with brown hair. Then there's Oz, Willow's boyfriend, he's shorter, reddish hair and doesn't talk much."

Dean squinted for a moment. "This Oz - is he about this tall and have spikey hair?" Buffy nodded. "And Xander does he have a mouth on him?"

Buffy's eyes were wide. "So you've met?"

Dean tilted his head. "Maybe. We might have met at Restfield cemetery the other day. We were tracking the same set of vampires."

"They were hunting vamps?"

"Yeah and they weren't too bad either, had stakes and crosses and everything."

"Oh god, did they get hurt?"

Dean shook his head. "No, but I don't think they want hunters around."

Buffy made a face at his answer and Sam huffed. "Now that you're back, we'll will be clearing out, won't we?"

Dean shrugged, but Sam knew he was right.

Buffy was taken aback. "Why would you leave already? You guys just moved here."

Since Dean was choosing not to answer, Sam replied. "It's common knowledge that the slayer doesn't like interference from hunters. We're not exactly welcome here."

"What? Who told you that?"

Sam and Dean exchanged looks before Dean asked, "Remember a guy named Cain?"

Buffy groaned. "That guy was a total jerk."

Both Winchesters nodded. "Well, yeah, but he's a jerk with a big mouth. After you sent him packing, he spread the word about you and your watcher hating hunters."

"That's why none of us ever come around. Until you went missing, of course. Now that you're back, hunters will be leaving Sunnydale alone, again." Sam slumped back in his seat. "Man," he whined, "I just signed up for school, too."

Dean rolled his eyes at his brother, but Buffy leaned closer, eagerly. "What if I tell your dad that it was only Cain that I didn't like, or my watcher could tell him. Then you guys could stay, right?"

"No," the brothers said in unison. "Besides if you see our dad, he'll recognize you from L.A. and then we'll catch hell," Dean said earnestly.

Knowing Dean wasn't exaggerating, Buffy nodded. "Sorry." She pouted at Sam. "I hope I didn't screw up your whole school year or anything."

Dean gave each of them a befuddled look before he shook his head. Sam ignored him. "Don't worry about it. It's not the first time I've signed up for a school I'll never attend."

Something caught Dean's attention from across the room. "Well, I'm going to hit the tables." Dean pushed back from the table and leaned into his brother whispering, "Don't be a tool, man. Ask her to dance."

Sam blushed and looked shocked for a minute, but a small shove from his brother shook him from it. He cleared his throat nervously. "So, uh, Buffy, you wanna dance?"

Buffy watched Dean walk away and pretended she didn't witness the brother's whispered exchange and smiled. "Sure, Sam, that'd be fun."

Sam wasn't confident that he was the Winchester Buffy wanted to dance with, but he was grateful for the opportunity. He took a few calming breaths so that Buffy wouldn't notice his nerves. Sam didn't know as much about girls as his brother, but he knew enough to know they didn't like sweaty awkward clumsy guys.

"So Sam, are you going to Sunnydale High? It'd be cool if you could stay long enough for us to have a class together."

"No. My dad enrolled me in Fondorn. The body count at Sunnydale High was too high for him."

Buffy laughed. "Yeah, on top of the hell mouth is not the best location for a school."

"Buffy!"

At the sound of her name, Buffy and Sam stopped dancing and turned. "Willow!"

"Ohmigod, Buffy, it is you!" The two girls hugged, leaving Oz, Xander, and Cordelia staring at an uncomfortable Sam. "When did you get back?"

"Today. It is so good to see you guys!" She pulled Xander and Oz into a tight hug.

"Who's your friend, Buff?" Xander asked as he gave Sam a once over.

Buffy took Sam's hand and grinned. "This is Sam. Sam, these are my friends, Willow, Oz, Xander, and Cordelia."

Sam smiled, "Hi. Nice to meet all of you. Buffy was just telling me about you guys."

Cordelia raised a brow. "Was she now," she appraised Sam then turned to Buffy and in a loud whisper added, "Looks kinda young for you, Buffy."

Buffy noticed Sam's immediate crumble at Cordelia's remark and squeezed his hand in reassurance. "Well, he's younger than the last guy I dated, but who isn't?"

Sam could feel the color rising in his cheeks and was grateful his brother wasn't near, but Buffy was holding his hand and did she really say 'date'?

The gang, plus Sam, made their way to Buffy's table as Cordelia asked, "So were you, like, living in a box, or what?"

Buffy shook her head. "Well, it's a long story."

Xander pushed her arm slightly, "So skip the heartwarming stuff about kindly old people and saving the farm and get right to the dirt. Kick any ass while you were away?" Xander didn't even notice the looks he got from the others.

"Xander!" Willow whispered harshly as she gave a quick look to Sam.

Buffy looked at Sam nervously. "It's okay, Willow, Sam knows. He's a hunter, we kinda met on a job this summer. I was really had to give it up for a while."

"Well, you can leave the slaying to us while you settle in. We got you covered," Xander offered.

"I heard. You guys seem down with the slay-age, all tricked out with your walkies and everything."

Cordelia made a face. "Yeah, but the outfits suck. This whole Rambo thing is so over. I'm thinking more sporty, like Hilfiger maybe."

"Still, we were getting good. We dusted nine out of ten," Willow said with a smile.

Oz whispered to Willow, "Six out of ten."

Willow shrugged, "Six out of ten."

"That's still really good," Sam said looking as impressed as he sounded.

While the others beamed in his remark, Cordelia craned her neck to see something across the room. "Hey, guys, isn't that the hunter from the other night? You know the one who put down Andy?"

Everyone at the table, except Sam, turned to see. Sam sighed knowing she was talking about Dean. "Yeah, that's him," Xander grumbled.

"That's my brother, Dean."

Without his knowledge, Sam's value just rose in Cordelia's mind. "Well, you should invite him over, introduce us."

"Yeah, sure." Sam turned and watched with the others as Dean missed an easy shot in his game of pool. "I should let him finish his game, though."

"You'd be doing him a favor if you stopped him," Xander laughed. "He's terrible." He noticed that Cordelia's attention was focused acutely on the hunter. "Maybe I should go teach him how to play."

"No!" Sam asserted a bit too loudly. "Trust me, Dean doesn't 'suck' at pool," he whispered, "he's hustling that guy." The others immediately turned towards the table again. "He lets them win a couple games, then begs to 'try to win his money back' and suddenly he can play like a pro."

"Ooh, a bad boy, huh?" Cordelia purred as she stood from her stool. "I think I'll go see just how bad he is."

Buffy and Willow rolled their eyes, but Xander became infuriated. He may not be with Cordelia anymore, but her hooking up with a hunter, _a criminal_, well, that was just not to be tolerated. "Cordelia, you heard Sam. Don't go bother that guy while he's scamming some poor schmuck."

"Don't worry, Xander, Dean won't think I'm a bother." Cordelia stood and smoothed out her clothes and strolled toward the pool tables.

* * *

><p>Dean and his competitor had just begun another game, when Cordelia approached. Leaning against one of the support poles, she was sure to keep in Dean's eye line. While the other guy broke, Dean's eyes were on Cordelia's. Figuring he was going to get lucky in more ways than one, Dean won the game quickly<p>

Once the other guy handed him a few folded bills, Dean looked over at Cordelia with an invitation in his eyes. "Hi."

"Hi yourself, that was some game." She walked over to him, bit her lip and said, "Maybe you could teach me how to play."

"I wouldn't mind teaching you anything, beautiful."

"Cordelia." She held out her hand.

"Dean." He leaned down to kiss it, then continued to hold it while he asked, "Do you really want to play pool or would you rather dance?"

"Is this guy for real?" Xander groaned as he watched Dean kiss Cordelia's hand.

"Yeah, my brother is quite the player. He thinks he's god's gift to women."

With a hand on the small of her back, Dean led Cordelia to the small dance floor and asked, "This isn't a line, but have I seen you before?"

Cordelia smiled and ducked her head coyly. "Yes. You saved me from that vampire in Restfield the other night."

Dean groaned to himself and removed his hand. If she was the girl from the cemetery that meant she was Buffy's friend. "Oh, so you're friends with Buffy."

"Well, I wouldn't call us friends, exactly. We go to school together but-"

Dean cut her off. "Well, sweetheart, it kills me to say this, but I'm not having anything to do with someone that's friends with her."

Cordelia's annoyed huff was her only response as Dean walked away.

"Well, Buffy, your overwhelming lack of social value continues to cause unbelievable side effects," Cordelia said as she returned to the table.

"What do you mean, Cordelia?"

"_Hotty McHotterson_ turned me down, _**ME**_, because of _**you**_. Because I _know_ you." Cordelia narrowed her eyes. "Seems just knowing you is like wearing a loser stamp on my forehead. Couldn't you stay gone just a little longer?"

"Cordelia!" Xander and Willow scolded in unison while Buffy swallowed down her hurt feelings.

"Thanks, Cordelia, it's good to know somethings never change," Buffy replied quietly feeling as low as Cordelia had hoped. She stood and looked towards the door.

Seeing Buffy was looking to leave, Sam spoke up. "Dean wouldn't say that. Or if he did, it's not what you think."

Cordelia returned an angry glare at Buffy. "Fine, then, I'm leaving before your loserness wears off on me."

Buffy sighed and slouched back in her seat. Sam looked from Buffy to the others and back. "Wow and she's your friend?"

Buffy's face lightened a bit. "More of an acquaintance really."

"Cordelia's an acquired taste." Xander added.

"You would know, you dated her," Buffy reminded him.

"I was a slave to my hormones," Xander said in his own defense.

Sam could appreciated Cordelia's attraction, but that made him confused. "My brother usually is, too. I wonder why he didn't jump at a chance to be with Cordelia."

"Maybe he saw her inner bitch," Xander offered as an explanation

Buffy looked over to where Dean was flirting with a girl Buffy recognized as having graduated the past spring. She also remembered that the girl was nearly as self-centered as Cordelia. It made her wonder the real reason behind Dean's aversion to Cordelia.

* * *

><p>The next morning Buffy and Joyce were sharing a slightly uncomfortable breakfast. Both had been accustomed to being alone and they found it awkward to move around each other. Buffy idly picked up a wooden mask she found laying on the kitchen island. "What's this?"<p>

"A Nigerian folk art mask," Joyce answered as she poured Buffy a glass of juice. "I'm going to hang it upstairs."

Buffy made a face. The mask wasn't something she'd want to see on a daily basis. "Oh, uh, that's nice?"

"You have no appreciation for art," Joyce said with a condescending shake of her head. "I have book club tonight, so we'll have an early dinner."

"Book club? That's new."

"Yeah, it helped me get my mind off of -" Joyce stopped herself. She didn't mean that she hadn't been thinking about her daughter, but Buffy expression told her that's what Buffy was thinking. "I met a lot of interesting people and made some new friends." She smiled hopefully at Buffy. "I had a thought. What if I invited Willow and Mr. Giles and everybody over for dinner tomorrow night? Don't you think that would be nice?"

Buffy took a big bite of toast instead of answering.

Joyce took a fortifying breath. "Since I sort of already did, I was hoping for a yes."

Buffy looked up at her mom and gave her a little smile and a nod. "It'll be fun." She placed her cup and plate by the sink.

Joyce smiled, relieved that her daughter wasn't against the idea of party. "What are you going to do today?"

Buffy shrugged. "I really should see Mr. Giles and find out if there's any slayer type stuff I should be doing. You know, work before play and all that."

Joyce smiled. "Of course, Buffy. That's very responsible of you." 

As she waited for Giles to pick her up, Buffy played with the Nigerian mask, spinning it on the counter. "What is that you're toying with, Buffy?" Giles asked as Joyce walked him into the room.

"It's a piece from the gallery," Joyce answered. "Authentic Nigerian folk art. Isn't it lovely? I'm thinking of hanging it in my room since Buffy doesn't care for it."

Giles forced a smile. "Yes, quite." Joyce gave Buffy an 'I told you so' look. "Well, Buffy, ready to get started?"

"Lead the way, Giles."

Buffy paused as Joyce kissed her on the top of her head. "Be careful, dear."

Buffy sat on Giles's couch and listened as he told her the requirements for returning to school. "And finally, you'll have to pass all your exams from last semester."

Buffy groaned. "That's a lot of cramming to be done in just a few days. I guess my mom's going to have to cancel the little party she had planned."

"No, why would she do that? I'm sure Willow and the others would be more than happy to help you prepare," Giles said, hoping to assure her.

"Right," Buffy scoffed. Willow seemed more interested in hanging with Oz than with catching up with her. That left Xander and Cordelia, one hated her and the other wasn't much better at school than she was. Then Buffy was struck with an idea; maybe she could help a friend stay in town while helping herself. "You haven't told the hunters to leave town, yet, have you?"

Giles adjusted his glasses. "Not all of them, why?"

Buffy grinned. "Because I know one that might be able to help me."


	2. Chapter 2

John Winchester listened to the man, the watcher, on the other line. On the surface everything seemed to make sense; but something pricked John's reasoning. It was too easy, too well planned. He gave the man his consent with one condition, "My son, Dean, will be there, too."

As the day wore on, both Winchesters wondered why they weren't being ordered to pack up. Their father seemed unaware that the slayer had returned to her duties, which surprised Sam. He thought his father would have been one of the first to get that information. Sam hoped Dean wouldn't say anything to ruin their extended stay in Sunnydale, he had been looking forward to spending more time with Buffy.

Just as he had gotten his hopes up, his father called him into the room. Dean was already there and he gave Sam a tense look as John began to speak. "Sam, it seems the slayer has returned to Sunnydale and wants to return to school. In order for her to do that, she needs some tutoring for exams or something. Her watcher, a Mr. Giles, asked if you would be interested. Since you don't attend her school and you're aware of the importance of her calling, you wouldn't give out her identity. You up for it?"

"Sure, absolutely," Sam answered ignoring the foreboding look from his brother.

* * *

><p>Once John dropped them off, Dean grabbed Sam's arm. "This is a bad idea. Now we've got to tell Dad we know her."<p>

Sam tugged his arm free. "Why?"

"Because this whole deal makes no sense. How would the Slayer know you or anything about you?"

Sam shrugged.

"Dad's already suspicious. It'll make sense if we tell him that she was Anne. I'd rather tell him than have him figure it out and we catch hell for it."

"It's up to Buffy."

"What's up to me?" Buffy asked as she approached them.

Dean kept his features stern. "Sam thinks it's up to you if we tell Dad we know you." Buffy gave Sam a thankful smile and seeing it made Dean continue, "But he's wrong. I don't want to betray your trust, but you didn't give us a choice."

Buffy rolled her eyes at him then led them to a study room in the library where Giles was waiting. "Giles, this is Sam and Dean Winchester. Sam is the one I was telling you about, but I don't know why Dean is here."

"You're John Winchester's sons?"

"Yes, sir," Dean answered.

Giles turned to Buffy. "Then he is here for the same reason I am; I don't trust them and his father doesn't trust us."

Dean looked pointedly at his brother and Buffy. "Look Mr. Giles, I can explain everything and the two of them can get to studying." Dean turned to Giles. "Buffy saved my life when I was in over my head on a job in L.A. I realized what she was, but didn't tell anyone. Now, my dad's curious as to why the Slayer knows of Sam and wants him to tutor her. If I tell him she was the waitress we met in L.A., and we didn't know who she really was, he'll understand and it won't be a big deal." Sam gaped at his brother, but Giles nodded as the pieces suddenly fit together.

"Yes, that makes sense." Giles faced Buffy. "Mr. Winchester will much more agreeable if he knows the truth." He then turned to the younger Winchester. "Sam, Buffy tells me you're quite knowledgeable in the core subjects due to helping your brother prepare for his general education diploma."

"Yes, sir."

"Very good. Here are some study materials the school provided. I am not allowed to help her prepare, so your help is much appreciated."

Sam took the papers the watcher handed him. After taking a second to look them over he said, "This shouldn't be a problem. Buffy can handle this."

"See, Giles, I told you Sam could help. Why don't the two of you leave us alone so we can get started?" Buffy threw another glare at Dean making him wonder what he had done to get her so angry.

When Dean left the room, he called his father. "Dad, I know how the Slayer knows Sam. You're not going to believe this." Dean went on to tell his father about "Anne's" identity and how she knew they were in Sunnydale, hoping it was enough to appease him. When he returned he told them, "He bought it like I told you he would."

"Well then, if daddy is okay with Sam helping me, why are you still here?" Buffy asked without looking up from her paper.

Dean gaped in surprise and didn't have an answer. Sam, though he was just as surprised, ducked his head, hoping to cover his smile.

As if nothing had happened and Dean wasn't still standing there like he'd been slapped, Buffy picked up one of the handouts. "Sam, check out my English essay assignment."

"_What I did over summer vacation_," Sam read. "That's pretty unimaginative."

"I know, right? I guess I'll write about all the jerks I had to serve at the diner."

Buffy knew her comment hit the mark when Dean huffed and walked out.

* * *

><p>When Giles dropped Buffy at home, Joyce was sitting on the porch coaxing a cat from under a chair. "Mom, what are you doing?"<p>

"Snowball 2 is hiding under our chair," Joyce answered as she wiggled a bit of yarn in front of the cat.

"Snowball 2?" Buffy and Giles asked in unison.

"Well, when Snowball died last month, Mr. Tennyson buried her in his backyard and said he wanted another cat," Joyce replied as the cat finally crept from its hiding place. Once it did, the three people noticed it's stench. "Whew, smelly cat. What have you gotten yourself into?" Joyce held the cat and pet it gently. "Doesn't she look like Snowball?"

Buffy knelt down by her mom. "Just like her, down to the white socks." She stood up next to Giles and whispered, "Smells like dead Snowball, too."

"Joyce, why don't you let me return the cat to your neighbor?" Giles offered, hoping not to let on that he thought it was the original Snowball returned from the dead.

Joyce handed the cat to Giles. "Thanks, Giles. Buffy, why don't we get cleaned up? I made your favorite spaghetti for dinner."

"Sounds good, Mom." Once Joyce left them Buffy turned to Giles. "What would make a dead cat come back? I mean, there's not such thing as vampire cats, right?"

"Not a vampire, but certainly back from the dead." Giles held the smelly creature at arm's length. "I'll check into it."

* * *

><p>Dean was irritated the rest of the day. Sam's near gloating attitude didn't help. The constant sniping was driving their father crazy, but John had a solution. "Dean, why don't you patrol that cemetery on the south side tonight? Sam and I will take the one by the bluff."<p>

Dean practically jumped at the chance to leave. "Sure, Dad."

"Take the crossbow and be careful."

Dean didn't need the warning. By the time he got to the cemetery, Buffy was already battling two vampires. Dean leaned against a tree and watched in admiration as she handily dispatched the first attacker. Once the dust cleared, however, another vampire joined the fray. Since she had been concentrating on the staking the second vampire, Buffy didn't notice this one approaching and it tossed her into a gravestone.

The vampire grabbed her by her coat front and lifted her off the ground. "Thanks for helping me up, but would you mind getting your dead hands off my jacket? You're getting your stench on it and it's dry clean only."

The vampire hissed, but turned to dust before it could reply. Buffy immediately fell to the ground and Dean hurried over to help Buffy to her feet. "You all right?" he asked as he retrieved his arrow.

"I didn't ask for your help. I had it under control."

"I know. I just didn't want to let you have all the fun," Dean said with a playful grin.

"Really? I thought you just wanted me to fall on my ass." Buffy scowled, brushing off her pants and heading in the opposite direction.

"What are you so mad at me for? What did I do?

"Nothing Dean, Just forget it." She kept walking.

"Nothing. Right." He followed after her. "I know this isn't about me telling my dad because you were pissy before that." Not getting a response he added, "Now I'm sorry for not trying to sleep with your friend. At least then I'd know why you're so pissed off."

Buffy spun around, stepped into his space and forced him to take a step back. She was so incensed she didn't know where to begin. "You arrogant, dick," she poked him in the chest hard enough to make him to stumble a few more steps backward. "Cordelia was only using you to make Xander jealous."

"I, I didn't," Dean stammered before a light clicked in his brain. "I don't believe this. You're mad at _**me**_ because _**your**_ friend used _**me**_?" Dean shook his head in bemusement. "Whatever. Sorry I didn't do a good enough job of making her boyfriend jealous. Maybe if she had told me, I would have played along. I was actually trying _not_ to get **you** angry."

"Why do you think anything _you_ did or did not do with Cordelia would make me angry?" she asked with just enough contempt to make Dean understand how little she thought of him.

"Because I thought we were friends," a stunned Dean explained. "What happens if I screw over your friend? You'd get pissed at me, right?" He hoped she understood, but in case she didn't he added, "Whatever. She's jail bait, so I wasn't getting involved. Tell Xander and Cordelia I'm sorry, too." When Buffy didn't respond, Dean decided to walk away.

Buffy watched him leave. He hadn't gotten far when she called after him. "I thought you said we were friends." Dean turned around. How many times could he apologize? "Well, friends call friends on the stupid stuff they do," Buffy continued.

Dean let himself lighten up. "Is that what you're doing? I told you, I was trying _not_ to be stupid. For once."

Buffy caught up to him. "Well, there you go being stupid again. I was talking about me." Dean looked confused. "I can't believe I forgot what a bitch Cordelia can be. I let all this stress about coming home and school and being the slayer again make me forget that we're friends, too. Sorry." She gave him a hopeful half smile.

"Don't worry about it. We cool?" He nudged Buffy's arm playfully. Buffy nodded, grateful Dean was quick to forgive. They walked in silence for a few minutes. "You shouldn't worry about school. You're smart. You were really good when you and Sam were helping me study for my GED."

"Thanks, Dean." Buffy was grateful it was too dark for Dean to see her cheeks color. "How did you do on that test, anyway?"

"Didn't take it. We came here." Dean stopped and looked around before turning to her. "Hey, all this slaying of the bad guys has made me hungry. Ya wanna get something to eat?"

"Sure. You like ice cream? I know a place not too far from here." She beamed a smile at him.

"Ice cream sounds perfect. Lead the way, princess."

* * *

><p>"You're seriously going to eat all of that?" Dean asked when the server handed Buffy a triple chocolate sundae.<p>

Buffy smiled and licked the whipped cream off a cherry from her sundae. "You got a problem with that, Mr. Winchester?"

Dean strove to keep his mind out of the gutter. "No, no problem. I like a girl who isn't a salad only eater."

As they ate, Dean felt himself relax. Buffy was warmhearted; she had her own baggage and didn't judge him for his. Dean found himself opening up about his life more than he had with anyone, including his family. While they ate, they traded stories about hiding the truth about their "jobs" from other people.

"So what do you think you'd be doing if you hadn't been forced into this line of work?" Buffy asked as she scooped up the last traces of her ice cream.

"Never really thought about it. I leave that to Sam. But what about you? You've only done this a couple of years."

Buffy shrugged. "I'd probably be an airhead cheerleader like I was before we moved here. But if I could go back and change anything, I'd want my parents back together."

Dean nodded in understanding. "Yeah. I'd do anything to have my mom back." He stared into his empty dish for a moment. "My life would be completely different if she hadn't been killed." Knowing that he had just made everything too serious, he forced a leer. "A cheerleader, huh? Bet you looked real cute shaking your pom-poms and wearing those tiny skirts."

"Wouldn't you like to know," Buffy teased as she left their table to dispose of her garbage.

Watching her sashay away, Dean replied, "Yes, I would."

Buffy laughed and shook her head at him. "Boys are so easy, always thinking about one thing."

Grateful she had lightened the mood, Dean's smile returned. "I think about other things."

"Like what?"

"Nothing comes to mind at the moment, but that's totally your fault." Buffy laughed as he held the door for her when they left the shop. "You want me to walk you home?"

"No, that's okay. It's not far." She stopped walking and looked up at him. "If you're not doing anything tomorrow night, my mom is throwing a small welcome home party for me."

Dean smiled, grateful that they were back to being friends. "Party, huh, sounds like fun. Did you invite Sam?" Dean knew he wasn't going to go, but he could quite squash the jealous feeling that Sam was invited and hadn't told him.

"Yeah, but I told him not to tell you." Buffy shrugged then leaned into his side. "That was back when I was mad at you."

"You're not mad anymore?"

"Nope. You bought me a triple chocolate sundae. It's pretty hard to stay angry after that."

Dean laughed. "So the road to forgiveness is paved with chocolate, good to know."

"Knowing you, you're going to need all the help you can get," Buffy said jokingly. "Come to my party. I need to have people there that actually like me."

Nodding, Dean lied, he knew his dad wouldn't allow it. "Sure, I wouldn't miss it."

* * *

><p>In the Sunnydale high school library Oz examined the caged cat on Giles's table. "It looks dead. It smells dead. Yet, it's not dead."<p>

"Giles, why do you have a dead cat for a pet?" Cordelia asked as she put her books next to Xander.

"It's not dead." Oz repeated.

"It's not my pet." Giles said from the stacks

"It smells dead," Cordelia retorted.

"Can we ignore the undead cat and talk about Buffy's party?" Willow asked as she moved the cat away from them. "I told her mom we'd help out. Bring stuff."

"I'm the dip." Cordelia blurted out. "What? Onion dip. Stirring, not cooking. It's what I bring."

Oz leaned back in his chair. "We should figure out what kinda deal this is. I mean, is it a-a gathering, a shindig or a hootenanny?"

Xander quirked his head. "What's the difference?"

"Well, a gathering is brie, mellow song stylings; shindig,dip, less mellow song stylings, perhaps a large amount of malt beverage; and hootenanny, well, it's chock full of hoot, just a little bit of nanny."

Xander nodded, "Well, I hate brie. And what'll we talk about at a gathering anyway? 'So, Buffy, did you meet any nice pimps on your travels? And oh, by the by, thanks for ruining our lives for the past three months'."

"Xander!" Willow gasped.

Xander was unmoved by Willow's reaction. "You know what I mean. She doesn't want to talk about it, we don't want to talk about it, so why don't we just shut up and dance?"

Willow considered Xander's point. "Well, Buffy said she did want to loosen up, you know, have some kid time." She looked to Oz. "Aren't you guys rehearsing tonight? Why don't you play at the party?"

"Yeah, I think I could supply some Dingo action."

Giles spoke up. "Uh, I-I'm not sure that, a, a, um . . . shindig . . ."

"Hootenanny," Oz corrected.

"Hootenanny i-i-is really the order of the day. Uh, uh, it should . . . maybe something a little more intimate. I-I-I mean, Buffy has just got home. I'm, I'm sure she's still feeling a little disoriented."

"All the more reason to make her feel welcome," Willow offered. "A big party says, 'Welcome home, Buffy'."

Buffy looked at herself in the mirror and sighed disapprovingly. She had put up her hair and wore her new pink dress, but she didn't have much confidence. She still felt that her friends would rather be doing anything other than attending her party.

When the door bell rang, Buffy took a deep breath, controlled her nerves and pulled open the door, only to find her mom's friend, Pat standing there. "Hey, there you are! Not thinking about any more flights of fancy, I hope. Joyce said there was room for one more, so I said forget facial night and let's party! I bet you like empanadas." She handed Buffy a plastic container just a s Joyce appeared at the top of the steps.

"Oh, Pat! Good. Buffy, you don't mind, right?" Joyce said as the two women embraced.

The doorbell rang again, so with one arm around the empanadas, Buffy opened the door, this time to find Sam. "Hey, Buffy."

Buffy smiled, relieved to see a friendly face. "Hi, Sam, come in." She looked past him as he entered and was disappointed Dean hadn't joined him. "Mom, this is my tutor, Sam. Sam, this is my mom."

"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Summers."

Joyce smiled at his manners. "Nice to meet you, too, Sam."

Pat leaned into Joyce and whispered loudly, "No wonder she wants to study, now." The two women giggled and both Buffy and Sam blushed.

Joyce took the empanadas from Buffy. "You two get comfortable, Pat and I will take these to the kitchen."

Sam took a step into the living room. "Dean said to tell you he's sorry he can't make it. Dad is making him pick up the slack since you're taking the night off."

Buffy slumped. "He doesn't need to cover for me. I -"

"That came out wrong," Sam interrupted. "Dad didn't want Dean to be here. He wanted him to work. Dad thinks it's good training. Dean didn't really have a choice."

The doorbell rang again, stopping their conversation.

Devon entered. "Hey, Buffy. So where do you want the band to set up?" He walked into the living room and looked around for a good spot.

"Wh-the band?" Buffy stammered. Devon ignored her as he and the other Dingoes brought in their equipment.

Sam looked impressed. "Wow, a band? You really throw quite the party." Buffy smiled weakly at him as Willow, Xander, and Cordelia entered.

"Oh, Sam, I didn't know you were going to be here." Xander attempted to sound civil as he subtly looked around.

Sam could hear the bitter under tone. "Yeah, Buffy invited me, but my brother won't be able to make it."

Xander immediately relaxed. "Well, too bad for him. More dip for us."

Cordelia smiled. "Hey, Buff, I brought the dip." She thrust the container into Buffy's hands, then turned to Xander. "You have the chips?"

With barely a glace to Buffy, Xander stuffed the chips into the slayer's other hand. Then he and Cordelia walked into the living room.

The doorbell rang again and Sam gave the weary Buffy a smile. "Why don't I grab those while you get the door?" Buffy thanked him with a smile and opened the door. She was wondering who had invited all these people.

As the party continued, more and more people arrived. Buffy found that she only knew a few of the guests. She also learned that most of them didn't know her. As she set out more chips, she overheard two guys talking about her. "Who's party is this anyway?"

"I heard it was some chick who just got out of rehab."

Buffy sighed. Was that really what these people thought of her? She turned to leave the room and crashed into Sam. "Hi, I was just looking for you," he said with a bright smile. "You won't believe what I just heard. Some girl said you just got back from fat camp." He laughed, but saw that Buffy wasn't laughing. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, Sam. It's just," she sighed again. "I feel like I wasn't even invited to my own party. I don't know half of these people. And my best friends seem to be ignoring me."

Sam rubbed a hand down her arm. "I'm sure they're not ignoring you. They're just having a good time." Buffy gave him a half smile and a nodded. "Look, there's Willow all by herself. Why don't you go talk to her?"

Buffy took a deep breath. "Okay. You're right, I will."

Buffy smiled at Willow, who was very intent on watching Oz. "Willow, is everything okay? You, you seem to be avoiding me, i-in the one-on-one sense.

Willow looked surprised. "What?" She turned away form the band. "This isn't avoiding. See? Here you are, here I am."

"So we're cool?"

Willow nodded. "Way! That's why, with the party, 'cause we're all glad you're back." She wasn't being very convincing, but Buffy decided to accept it for now.

"Okay."

"Okay. Good." She goes back to watch the band again. Buffy isn't at all convinced that everything's good.

In Joyce's bedroom, the eyes of the Nigerian mask begin to glow.

* * *

><p>Dean took cover behind the Clark mausoleum watching as his dad moved into position twenty yards away. He was simultaneously proud that his dad wanted him along on this hunt, and disappointed that he wasn't at Buffy's party. He knew he'd probably end up causing trouble with her friends, but he remembered the look on Buffy's face when she invited him. It was enough to make him jealous that his brother was allowed to attend the party.<p>

The creaking of the mausoleum door tore Dean from his musings. An old weathered man crept forward. Dean took aim with his crossbow and fired. The arrow hit it's mark, but the vampire did not turn to dust. The creature turned towards Dean and pulled the arrow from its back. "Wh-what the...?" Dean stammered.

"Dean, Run!"

Dean didn't really need his father's command, running had been his number one plan, but for some reason, his feet weren't on board with this idea. The creature reached for Dean, but the boy fell to the ground, causing his aggressor to stumble.

John fired his shotgun, hitting the creature with a salt round. The creature collapsed on top of Dean. Unfortunately, the creature was down but not dead. Dean breathed a sigh of relief, only to gasp as the creature wrapped an ancient hand around his throat. "Dad!" he cried weakly.

The creature opened its mouth and inhaled, seeming to suck the breath out of Dean as it did.

* * *

><p>Buffy felt alone in her crowded party. Hardly anyone seemed to know who she was and those who did, didn't seem to care. She decided to hide in her room for a few minutes when she saw something that made her skin crawl with disgust: Xander and Cordelia kissing by the stairs.<p>

Xander noticed her and pulled back from his occasional girlfriend. "Hey, Buff, uh...what are you doing?"

Buffy plastered a fake smile on her face. "I was just taking a break from all this crazy fun."

"Some party, huh? I guess a lot of people are glad to have you back."

Buffy smirked. "It seems like people I didn't even know missed me."

Xander nudged Cordelia who finally took her cue. "Right, we all missed you. A lot." She wrapped her arms around Xander. "But you should have seen Xander out there doing your job. He was totally hot."

Buffy raised a brow, but Xander grinned. "I was?"

Cordelia kissed his neck. "Yeah, totally."

Uncomfortable by their actions, Buffy walked upstairs.

* * *

><p>Giles flipped the page in the text he was reading and saw the Nigerian mask that Joyce hung in her bedroom. He quickly studied the page."<em>Do you like my mask<em>?" he asked in a voice that mocked Joyce. "Yes, it's fascinating. It raises the dead. Bloody Americans."

Remembering the party, he decided to hurry to Buffy's house instead of calling. As he sped towards the party, a man stepped in front of his car. Giles slammed his brakes, but it wasn't in time, he plowed into the man.

"Are you all right?" Giles asked as he leapt from his car. "Of course he's not,you idiot, you hit him with your car." Giles knelt next to the man to feel for a pulse but noticed the smell of decay. He realized what he had struck just as the zombie reached for him.

* * *

><p>Buffy grabbed a bag and tossed it on her bed. She stormed to her closet, grabbed an armful of clothes and dumped them next to the bag. She'd been on her own before, she could do it again.<p>

She turned and saw her weapons chest and grinned. She wasn't going to run this time. She was going to slay something. She didn't need her friends trying to do her job.

As Buffy was about to open the chest, Willow entered her room and saw the bag and the clothes piled on the bed.. "What's going on? Are you leaving again?"

"Not like anyone will notice," Buffy muttered.

"Well have a great time and don't forget not to write!" Willow spat.

"What are you attacking me for? I'm trying -"

"Really? 'Cause this looks like giving up."

"No, you don't understand."

"How could I when you won't talk to me?"

"How can I talk to you when you're avoiding me?"

Their raised voices brought Joyce to the room. Seeing the bag and clothes on the bed, she jumped to the same conclusion Willow had. "What is this? What's going on?"

"She was running away again," Willow answered pointing to the bed.

"Stop. Wait. That's not what's happening," Buffy sputtered.

"You think you can just take off any time you feel like it?" Joyce asked barely concealing her anger.

Frustrated that she wasn't being heard, Buffy stormed from the room and headed downstairs. Joyce and Willow raced after her.

"Don't you even think of leaving this house young lady!" Joyce shouted. The loud command quieted many of the party goers and all eyes fell on the mother and daughter. "That's it. You and I are going to have a talk."

"Mom, please," Buffy pleaded.

"You think I care what these people think?" Joyce waved her hand at the crowd of teenagers. "I don't. Do you have any idea what it's been like?"

"Mom, this isn't the time," Buffy begins quietly.

"You can't imagine what I've been through. Not knowing if you're dead or hurt or living it up somewhere!"

"But you're the one that said if I leave this house don't come back. You found out what I really was and you couldn't deal. Don't you remember? You told me to leave." Buffy's voice cracked. She fought the emotions bubbling up inside her.

"Sorry, I'm not perfect," her mother answered. "But you didn't give me time. You just dumped this on me then ran off."

The confrontation forced most of the guest to leave, but Willow and Oz moved closer to Buffy. Sam stepped into the room, wanting to show Buffy some support, when Xander spoke up from behind him. "Maybe you don't want to hear it, Buffy, but taking off like that was completely selfish and stupid."

Buffy let her tears fall. "I'm sorry. I know I screwed up. But you have no idea what I was going through."

"You had an evil boyfriend. Most girls don't hop a Greyhound out of town over a breakup," Xander sniped.

Buffy's tears were too much for Sam. He stepped up next to Buffy and tried to comfort her by putting his hand on her shoulder. "Stop attacking her. Buffy's admitted to being wrong. She's apologized and she's back now. If you're really her friends, you'd get over it. If you're not, don't the the door hit you on your way out."

* * *

><p>John rushed to where his son was being attacked. He pulled out a silver blade and drove it into the demon's back. The demon reared up, howling in pain, and turned on John, easily tossing the man away. The demon went after John to continue its attack, when Dean pushed himself up. He gathered his wits, drew his gun and fired at the demon causing it to crumble to the ground. John grabbed the silver blade from its back and severed its head.<p>

"Nice shot, Dean."

"Consecrated iron. Don't leave home without it," he smirked. "What was that thing? It wasn't the vampire you heard was going to be there."

"Codger demon, I think. They try to suck the essence of life out of people," John answered.

* * *

><p>Buffy and her friends were stunned by Sam's sudden outburst. "Just who the hell -" Xander began but was interrupted by the screams of other guests.<p>

At that moment several zombies crashed through the living room window and clawed at the front door.

* * *

><p>*Some dialogue taken from the ep. <em>Dead Man's Party<em>. The name of the cat taken from _the Simpsons_.


	3. Chapter 3

The zombie grabbed Giles and threw him against his car, nearly knocking the man out. The watcher punched the undead thing square in the jaw, but it didn't falter. Taking a stake from his coat, Giles used it to bat the zombie about its head. Finally, the undead creature fell away.

Giles took a breath of relief before he saw more zombies creeping towards him.

* * *

><p>At Buffy's, a zombie snapped the neck of one of the teenage guests. Another zombie grabbed Xander from behind and they fell to the ground. Sam rushed over and tried to pull the zombie off of Xander; the three wrestled for a moment, then the boys got the upper hand and broke away from the zombie.<p>

Willow tossed Buffy a piece of the broken window frame and the slayer buried it in the zombie's chest. "Okay, not vampires!" Buffy yelled and threw a worried look to her friends.

Sam grabbed the andirons from the fireplace. "Xander!" he yelled as he tossed one to him. Xander snagged the tool/weapon and together he and Sam beat back the zombies until Buffy could shove them out the door.

They had a moment to catch their breath before a crash was heard in the back of the house. "Xander! Kitchen!" Buffy yelled.

"On it!" he replied as he ran. Cordelia followed, right on his heels.

"Buffy, what are these thing?" Joyce asked.

"Zombies," Sam answered before following Cordelia.

Buffy nodded. "How do I kill them?"

Sam shrugged and looked over his shoulder calling, "I don't know, they're the undead."

* * *

><p>Giles looked from the stake in his hand to the approaching zombies and came to the grim realization that there was no way he was going to be able to fend them off successfully. "What I wouldn't give for a sharp machete," he mumbled to no one in particular.<p>

Or perhaps to just the right someone, as at that moment a '67 Impala turned the corner.

Dean pointed to Giles and the encroaching zombie horde. "Dad, is that Mr. -"

"It's the watcher. And those look like -"

"Zombies."

With the Impala's pedal to the floor, John eliminated several of the zombie threat. When the car screeched to a halt, both John and Dean raced to the trunk and retrieved weapons. Their shotguns made quick work of the zombies that had gathered near Giles.

"Mr. Winchester, you have impeccable timing," the watcher sighed with relief.

John only nodded. "What made Sunnydale suddenly turn into _Night of the Living Dead_?" Dean asked.

"I believe it to be caused by a Nigerian mask Buffy's mother has decorating the walls of her house."

John and Dean exchanged looks, and simultaneously said, "Sam!" They rushed back to the car with Giles on their heels. "Call Sam," John ordered though Dean already had his phone in hand.

"What do I tell him? He doesn't have any weapons. How's he supposed to kill these things?"

"Tell him -" John began gruffly

"Tell _**Buffy**_," Giles interrupted, "she needs to destroy the mask. The zombies will be trying to get to it. I don't want to think of what could happen if one of the zombies gets their hands on the mask."

* * *

><p>Joyce's friend, Pat, finished her third Bartles&amp;James Blue Hawaiian wine cooler and decided she needed to get some air. She opened a window in the Summers' dining room, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. "Oh my, what is that horrible smell?" she asked herself opening her eyes to find herself face to face with a zombie. Thinking it to be one of the party guests she said, "You're not supposed to be out there. You should get back inside."<p>

The creature looked at her, pushed her aside and climbed through the window. "Kids, these days. You should know better than to climb through the window! Use the door." The zombie looked at Pat, then twisted her neck and dropped her on the floor.

Buffy and her mother forced a zombie out the front door and slammed it behind them, when another crash was heard in the living room. "Mom, get upstairs, now!" Joyce listened to to her daughter and rushed up the steps.

Buffy rushed into the living room where Oz was using a broken table leg to keep a zombie at bay. "Willow, get upstairs with Buffy's mom," Oz ordered. Willow didn't argue. She handed Buffy the fireplace poker and ran.

Buffy and Oz quickly realized that they would not be able to fend off all of the attacking zombies, too many were making their way inside. After knocking a few of them to the ground, Buffy grabbed Oz's arm. "Come on!" They, too, made their way upstairs.

* * *

><p>In the kitchen, Xander and Sam were able to force the zombie out the back door. Sam then barricaded the door with a table. Cordelia looked towards the living room. "There's too many. We're trapped."<p>

Sam grabbed Cordelia and shoved her into a closet. "Stay here. Don't open the door for anyone except Xander or me." Cordelia nodded and Sam poured salt in front of the door.

"What are you doing?" Xander watched Sam pouring salt by the closet and the back door.

"Salt deters evil spirits. It should work on zombies, too." He tossed the empty carton. "If she can stay quiet, they won't know she's there."

"You don't know Cordelia. Quiet's not one of her settings."

"Hey," the girl yelled from the closet, "I can hear you!" Xander inclined his head toward the closet as she proved his point.

Sam began rifling through the kitchen cabinets hoping to find more salt, when the Foo Fighters' 'My Hero' was suddenly playing from his phone. At the moment, he was grateful his brother was calling; he'd pay Dean back for the embarrassing ring tone when he wasn't being attacked by the undead.

"Dean, thank god. Buffy's place is being attacked by zombies or something that looks like zombies."

From the closet, Cordelia yelled, "They smell like them, too. Hey! Why is he allowed to talk?"

"Yeah, kid, I know. Let me talk to Buffy. We've got her watcher with us. He says she has to destroy a mask her mom has," Dean answered.

"It's the Nigerian folk art mask!" Giles shouted over the seat back. "Don't let a zombie get their hands on it!"

"Did you hear that?" Dean asked his brother.

"Yeah, destroy a mask, got it. But, Dean -"

"Don't worry, Sam, we're almost there."

* * *

><p>Zombie!Pat watched Buffy and Oz run up the steps and followed. She made it to the top just as Buffy was knocking on her mom's door. "Mom, it's me, open up."<p>

Grateful to see her daughter unharmed, Joyce opened the door and hugged Buffy. "Oh, thank god you're all right." Then Joyce saw Pat. "Pat, hurry! You need to get in here."

Zombie!Pat nodded and followed the others into the room. The glowing eyes of the Nigerian mask seemed to hypnotize her.

"Buffy, what are these things?" Willow asked.

"I don't know. Sam thinks they're zombies," she answered as she surveyed the safety of the room. "You guys stay here. I'm going out there to see if I can draw them away from the house." She opened her mom's door only to see zombies creeping towards them. "We've got company. Oz, help me push this dresser in front of door."

"Buffy, what are we going to do? How so we stop these things?" Willow asked as she helped them move the dresser.

"I don't know," Buffy answered. "Right now, I hope Sam knows what to do."

* * *

><p>Still wielding the andirons as weapons, Xander and Sam quietly make their way to the living room. "It's quiet. I don't like it," Xander whispered as they looked for the mask.<p>

"Me either. Something's not right."

Once in the living room, they could hear rustling outside. Together they stacked the sofa and coffee table in front of the window. Then, they heard a sound on the steps. "There." Xander pointed.

Sam rushed over and dragged the zombie down the steps and then beat it with the andiron. He looked over at Xander. "We have got to find that mask, fast."

Xander nodded. "I hear ya. Where do we look?"

"My guess, upstairs. Looks like more zombies headed that way."

"What kind of mask is it? A beauty mask? A Halloween mask?" Cordelia asked from the hallway.

"I thought I told you to be quiet and stay in the closet." Sam looked exasperated.

Xander shrugged and whispered. "I don't date her for her brains."

Sam rolled his eyes. "A folk art mask. It's Nigerian, probably made out of wood."

Buffy surveyed her mother's room for anything she could use as a weapon. She picked up a silver hand mirror from her mother's dressing table and tested its heft. "This could work," she mumbled to herself. She faced her mom. "Maybe I can climb out your window and sneak back in."

"I don't know, honey, I guess, but it's a bit of a drop." Joyce went to open her window and had to sidestep Pat. "Pat, excuse me, Pat, Pat?" The zombie pushed her aside in favor of obtaining the mask with the glowing eyes. "Oh no, oh god, Pat!" Joyce cried.

Buffy saw that Pat was reaching for the mask. "That's not Pat, Mom." She dropped the brush and raced to the mask. "Zombie!Pat, this is not a movie and you're not Jim Carrey.".

Both Buffy and the zombie grabbed the mask and neither would let go. Oz jumped on Zombie!Pat's back, but it didn't phase her; she held tight to the mask. Willow and Joyce joined in the fray, both trying to get the mask away from the zombie. While the three served as a distraction, Buffy let go and dove for the silver brush. "Look out!" She ordered as she charged the zombie hoping to impale the brush in its chest.

When they let go, the zombie put the mask on its face and a dazzling white light shone from its eyes; temporarily blinding the inhabitants of the room. But Buffy was already in motion and with that momentum, she and the mask wearing zombie fell through the bedroom window.

* * *

><p>Xander and Sam heard the crash from the upstairs and became instantly frightened. They raced up the steps only to be met by a crowd of zombies. "Bad idea!" Xander yelled as he and Sam turned around and raced back down the steps.<p>

"What's happening?" Cordelia whined as she hurried back to her closet hiding place.

"Zombie apocalypse!" Xander announced rushing her into the closet.

Sam turned around to fight off the following zombie horde just in time to see his brother kick in the front door. "Sammy! Down!" Dean fired his shotgun into the crowd of zombies, leveling several.

Giles followed close behind Dean with John bringing up the rear. "Where's Buffy?" The watcher shouted over the shotgun blasts.

"I don't know. Upstairs I think."

From the front door, John tossed Sam a shot gun. "Sam, window, cover me. Anything that moves, shoot it," he ordered as Sam snagged the ammo belt thrown to him. Then he pointed to Xander, "You, barricade this door. Nothing gets in." Just as he shut the door, more zombies appeared on the Summers' property.

* * *

><p>Dean and Giles bounded up the stairs with Dean shooting anything that got in his way. "Tell her to destroy the eyes of the mask!" Giles shouted.<p>

Once upstairs, Dean saw the claw marks on Joyce's bedroom door. "Over there."

Dean pointed to the door and Giles rushed to it and immediately pounded on it. "Buffy? Are you in there?"

"Giles?" Willow called from within. "Giles, Buffy and a zombie fell out the window."

Not wasting a moment, Dean raced back down the steps.

Inside the room, Joyce, Willow and Oz worked to move the bureau away from the door to allow Giles to enter. Once inside, he hurried to the broken window and saw the mask wearing zombie looming over Buffy. "It's eyes!" he yelled, "Destroy it's eyes!"

The zombie turned to face Giles. "Giles! Don't look!" Buffy yelled in warning. Again a blinding light shone from the mask's eyes. Buffy turned around as she sought another weapon to use against this more powerful zombie. She found a large garden spade. "Hey Pat!" The zombie faced her. "Your empanadas taste like crap."

* * *

><p>At the same moment, Dean burst through the back door. "Buffy! It's-" He watched the slayer;<p>

as the eyes began to glow again, and Buffy buried the point of the spade between the eyes of the mask. The zombie fell to the ground and disappeared, as did all the other zombies. "Never mind."

Buffy looked up at him. "Hey, you made it. Sam said you were busy."

Dean shrugged. "Your watcher needed a ride."

* * *

><p>As everyone gathered in the Summers' living room Dean looked at the mess of cups and plates left from the guests. "Dang, Buff, you really threw yourself quite the clambake, didn't you?"<p>

Buffy shrugged, she didn't want to say that she hadn't invited that many people. Oz turned to Xander and whispered, "Clambake, one step above hootenanny."

Xander nodded. "Hootenanny with zombie flavor."

"Exactly."

Devon picked up his broken mike stand. "Dude," he whined and pouted to Oz.

Oz picked up his guitar and found all the strings broken. "Come on, let's get this stuff out of here."  
>While Devon and Oz packed up the band's equipment, Joyce surveyed the damage to her house. If house full of teenagers hadn't caused enough damage, she wanted to cry over the damage the zombies left in their wake.<p>

Almost as if he could tell what was going through the woman's mind, John asked, "Mrs. Summers, do you have any plywood we can put over these windows?"

She stared at him a moment before her mind focused. "Yes, I think there may be some in the garage." She looked to her daughter for confirmation.

"Yeah, Mom, I think there may be some from the last time something broke the window."

"Good," John answered. "Dean, have her show you where it is while I grab some tools from the trunk. Sam, you help clean up in here."

Both boys nodded and Dean followed Buffy to the garage and Sam went to the kitchen closet for supplies.

Realizing that if the Winchesters were helping to repair the damage they should too, Willow, Xander and Cordelia started to pick up random garbage laying about.

* * *

><p>In the garage, Buffy found the plywood by the far wall. When she turned to Dean, she found him grinning like he was fighting the urge to laugh. She put her hands on her hips in annoyance. "What's so funny?"<p>

"Just you. What you're wearing."

Buffy looked down at her dress. She thought her dress had gotten through the melee without much damage. "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"

"Nothing," he was quick to assure her. "You look real cute. Your hair's all done up and you're wearing a nice little dress. It's funny."

Insulted, Buffy huffed and turned her back.

Dean kept right on talking. "I mean, just look at it from the zombie's point of view." Wondering what in the world he was talking about, Buffy faced him. "They show up all 'Grr arrgh brains' and -"

"Grr arrgh?"

"I don't know, isn't that what zombies say? Anyway, they're all 'brains' and then they get a load of you all dolled up and probably think 'mmm tasty' and then you kick their asses," Dean laughed.

"I'm glad I amuse you," Buffy replied with a slight laugh, finding his version of the zombie ordeal kind of funny.

"Seriously, you just ganked some zombie king -"

"Queen."

"Queen, whatever, and all that happened to you is a grass stain on your ass."

"Oh," Buffy whined and twisted to see her backside. Then she smirked at Dean. "Hey, you're not supposed to be checking out my ass. I'm jail bait, remember?"

Chuckling Dean answered, "Believe me, the phrase has been on constant repeat in my brain since we met. I'm not forgetting. Doesn't mean I can't appreciate what I see."

* * *

><p>Xander and Sam worked together to return furniture to its proper location and position. When they finally finished the living room, Xander sheepishly said, "So about before."<p>

"About what?"

"Before when we were fighting and you stood up for Buffy. You were right. We were kind of hard on her," Xander admitted quietly.

"Yeah, but you totally had her back when she asked for your help."

"Well, yeah, she's the Buffster. It'd be kind of hard not to do what she asked in this kind of situation."

Sam thought back to L.A. And how Buffy took charge in that pit of demons. "Yeah, she's something, that's for sure."

Xander grinned. "You should totally go for it."

"What? No, uh, I don't think so," Sam stammered and quickly busied himself sweeping up more broken glass. "Really?"

Xander chuckled. "Yeah, really, Sam." He looked around to make sure they were alone. "It's pretty obvious you like her, so, ask her out."

"I don't know. I'll think about it," Sam said quietly as he wondered how long he'd be in Sunnydale.

"Well believe me, we all like you way better than her last boyfriend."

* * *

><p>The following Monday, Buffy waited impatiently for Sam in the Sunnydale public library. She had two more days to study before she had to take her exams. When Sam finally arrived, Buffy noticed he was a ball of energy. "Sam, you might want to cut back on the caffeine."<p>

He barked a laugh. "Yeah? Why?"

"You're bouncing. I -"

"Yeah, well this girl, Tiara, asked me to take her to homecoming."

Buffy stared for a minute. "Tiara?" She shook her head. Who was she to judge names? "So you going?"

Sam huffed. "Yeah right. I don't think so."

"Why not?" teased Buffy grinning at him. "Don't you like her or something?"

S_he's not you,_ Sam thought as he looked at Buffy's teasing smirk. "No, she's fine, I like her, I guess. We'll be leaving before homecoming, so I had to say no."

"What? When are you leaving?"

Sam shrugged. "Probably as soon as your allowed into school." _Or I would have asked you._

"Oh." Buffy bit her lip and looked at the papers before her. "I'm sorry. I liked having you guys around."

"Thanks. We liked being here. Well, Dean and I liked being here. My dad, though, has got other plans and they don't include an extended stay in Sunnydale." Sam wanted to believe that Buffy looked disappointed.

She put her hand over his. "We'll keep in touch, right?"

"Of course we will, Buffy," Sam replied somehow keeping his voice calm.

"Good, because I'd hate to fail my exams and make my mom and Giles angry just so we can be friends."

They had finished reviewing Buffy's science guide and were half way through her history review, when Buffy noticed the time. "Sam, I've got to go. I have to get to Willow's. She's going to help me with my French exam."

"Okay, but we're still meeting tomorrow after school, right?"

"Yep. One more day until exams and we find out if your hard work has paid off."

"Buffy, you're the one that's working hard. I like hanging out with you, even if we have to spend our time studying."

Buffy smiled at his answer and noticed that Sam was blushing. "I like hanging out with you, too, Sam."

They stood on the corner where they had to go their separate ways, and Sam shuffled his feet, trying to delay leaving. "Buffy, if we were staying, I would have asked you to Homecoming."

Buffy bit her lip and smiled at him. "If you had asked, I would have said yes."


	4. Chapter 4

Portions of this chapter are based on the episodes _Helpless_ and the _Zeppo_ from season 3 BtVS.

* * *

><p>John didn't wait for the news that Buffy was re-enrolled in Sunnydale High, the hunter packed up his boys and left that Thursday. He had more important matters to attend to than to help a girl who clearly didn't need a hunter's assistance.<p>

Though he had expected it, Sam was still annoyed to move. He had wanted to tell Dean that Buffy said she'd have gone to Homecoming with him, but he knew his brother would tease him endlessly.

Buffy wrote letters like she had promised and Sam had written back. It didn't surprised Buffy that Sam wrote back to her and Dean didn't. Dean didn't seem like the letter writing type. Buffy wished there was some way of forcing Dean to talk to her. She felt like she had become friends with the hunter and knew neither of them had many friends.

At Christmas, there were surprises for everyone as the Winchesters received a care package from the Summers family including knit hats and homemade cookies. The Winchesters didn't mind that the cookies had broken in transit, they tasted delicious just the same.

Buffy equally surprised to receive gifts from the Winchesters. She had expected a card, at least, from Sam and he didn't disappoint. The card was sweet and there was a small charm enclosed with it. What surprised her was the gift from Dean. The card was a Far Side cartoon which made her laugh out loud when she read it – Dean had personalized it. The boy pushing on the door (labeled PULL) to the Midvale School for the Gifted had been named DEEN and the school's name changed to Sunnydale. In the box was a tiny black tank top with the word Slayer across the chest.

* * *

><p>In January, the hunting community gossip centered around two rumors. One was that there were two slayers and therefore no need for any of them to risk returning to Sunnydale. The second was that the Sisterhood of the Jhe was swarming. It was rumored that these fierce demons would celebrate their victories by eating the the flesh of those they defeated.<p>

John Winchester didn't share either of these rumors with his sons. That didn't stop them from learning about one of them.

"Bobby said two slayers."

"Impossible, Sam. There's only one way for there to be a new slayer, the old one has to die. Buffy isn't dead therefore no new slayer." Dean announced this fact with an assumed authority as he flopped on the couch with a magazine and a bag of chips.

Sam paced nervously. "What if she is?"

"Then she is," Dean began, but he saw his brother was on the border of a nervous breakdown, so he stopped teasing and sat up. "Sam, let's say there are two slayers, one is obviously Buffy. I mean think about it, you've seen her fight." Sam nodded as he listened. "And two slayers are better than one. She's probably able to relax some now."

"Yeah, yeah, you're right," Sam answered as he paced.

Dean could see his brother wasn't reassured at all. "Why don't you call her? Prove to yourself that she's fine. Then you can ask her about the second slayer."

"Good idea, I'll call." Sam picked up his phone only to stare at it.

Dean rolled his eyes. "Call her. You'll hear she's fine and I won't have to see that dumb as hell look on your face anymore."

Sam scowled and dialed Buffy's number. As it rang, he left the room, he didn't need to give his brother more reason to tease him. He returned a moment later looking disappointed.

"Well? She's fine, right?" Dean asked, barely looking up from his magazine.

"Uh, sort of." Dean put the magazine down and Sam continued. "I didn't talk to her, she's sick in bed. Her mom said she's been sick for a couple days, now."

"Huh." Dean's brows knit. "Well, sick isn't dead. There must be some explanation for the other slayer. We can ask Dad when he gets back."

* * *

><p>In a cave just outside town, John Winchester and Bobby Singer have a demon cornered. It's the ugliest thing either of them have seen in a while and certainly the most vicious. Cornering a creature like that is never a good idea and this case is not different. The demon launched itself at John whose bullets did nothing to deter it. It lifted him over its head and tossed him like a rag doll. As it turned to do the same to Bobby Singer, the hunter drove a sword through its heart. The creature fell, but Bobby didn't release the sword. "What are the Jhe after?"<p>

The creature spat at him, forcing Bobby to pour Holy water into its wound. "Answer me!"

This time the demon said something in it's language and the hunter twisted his sword, putting the demon out of its misery.

Back at the motel, the very injured John argued with the very tired Bobby. "You're in no shape to go anywhere, John."

"But if your translation is right, the hellmouth -"

"Has two Slayers, now. I'm sure a couple of Jhe are no challenge to 'em," Bobby reminded him.

John agreed finally. "I'll give the watcher a call. Let him know what to expect."

* * *

><p>Buffy and Faith patrolled the Sunnyside Cemetery nearly bored due to lack of vampires. "So, uh you and Angel, how's that going?" Faith asked, hoping to get to know Buffy more as a friend.<p>

Buffy groaned to herself. "It's not. I guess we love each other, but we can't act on it or anything because..."

"He goes all dark side," Faith added.

"Exactly."

"Doesn't that get frustrating? I mean you get all worked up slaying and then have no outlet for all that pent up unh."

"Energy?" Buffy clarified amusing Faith. "Yeah, I wish there was something we could do about it, but there really isn't an option."

"You don't have to stay with Angel."

* * *

><p>Giles listened to the hunter and began to feel nauseous. If the man's information was correct, the Sisterhood of the Jhe was assembling in Sunnydale with the intent of opening the Hellmouth and bringing about the apocalypse.<p>

Giles pushed his glasses to his forehead. "Do you know when?"

John couldn't believe his ears. "When? I don't know, soon. We killed one last night outside of Barstow."

"Right, of course. It's just that Buffy just completed her Cruciamentum and I -"

"Her what?"

"Cruciamentum. It's a rite of passage for a slayer on her eighteenth birthday. It weakens her and takes away her Slayer abilities and unfortunately, I'm no longer her watcher."

John slumped back in his chair then winced due to his injuries. "I've heard there's another slayer. Is that true? Can she handle something like this alone?"

"Yes, it's true. But, I dare say anyone could handle the entire sisterhood alone. And then there's protecting the hellmouth."

John scrubbed a hand over his face. "You're down one slayer, you're no longer a watcher and a band of demons wants to open the hellmouth. Sounds like a hell of a week you're having."

"Buffy should be back to full strength soon. But, if you're offering help, I'm in no position to decline."

John looked down at his cracked ribs and sprained ankle, then around the motel room. Bobby Singer was half way to Sioux Falls. These facts meant that the only help he could offer was his son, Dean. "The hellmouth, where is it?"

Giles looked at the table twenty feet away. "The school library. Uh, I should warn you, besides the sisterhood, when the hellmouth opens a huge demon will make it's way out."

John closed his eyes. Should he even risk sending his son? Then he thought what would happen if he didn't. If that demon would be allowed to escape. "The meeting with the Jhe left me a little worse for wear, but my son, Dean, will be there. He'll be able to take care of that demon if your people can handle the sisterhood."

* * *

><p>Giles and Willow were reading ancient texts trying to find a binding spell that would work against the Sisterhood of the Jhe. "If we can just prevent them from opening the hellmouth, Buffy and Angel and perhaps even Faith, should be able to defeat them."<p>

"Is Buffy strong enough, yet?" Willow asked failing to hide her fear.

Giles sighed, "I certainly hope so." He went to his storage closet and gathered some candles. "She's meeting with Angel. Hopefully, he will have some idea of how to defeat them."

* * *

><p>In Angel's mansion, Buffy paced and held back her tears. "Giles doesn't know what to do, how to defeat them. I don't know how I'm going to be able to fight them and the demon from the hellmouth."<p>

"Then, don't," Angel began, "let me do it."

"Alone? You can't defeat all of them by yourself."

"I can buy you time for Willow's spell to work," Angel pleaded. "This is worse than anything we've ever faced."

"I can't watch you die again."

Angel cupped her face in his hands. "I love you. Even death can't stop that."

Buffy broke away from him, angry at his resigned attitude. "You may be ready to give up, but I'm not. If you aren't willing to fight for this, then we have nothing to fight for."

* * *

><p>Dean leaned forward and turned up the volume to "Back in Black", Sam leaned forward and turned it down again. "Why do you get to help Buffy and I have to patrol?" Sam whined.<p>

"Because patrolling _is_ helping and what I have to do is too dangerous for you to be there."

Sam slumped back and crossed his arms. "Oh, but not too dangerous for you."

Dean took a minute to put together the best argument he could think of. "Sam, my job isn't that dangerous, I don't have to do anything if Buffy has it handled by the time I get there. But, you know I wouldn't be able to concentrate if I knew you could get hurt. I could make a mistake and it could end up killing people. You saw what one demon did to Dad, right?" He risked a quick look at his brother and saw him about to argue. "I know more of them will be at the high school, but I'll have Buffy and her people covering for me. I'll be in and out in like a minute, _if_ I have to go in at all." He saw that Sam was beginning to buy it. "The thing is, no one will be stopping the vampires or other creatures tonight so you'd be helping Buffy if you patrolled."

Sam sighed and looked out the window. "I guess you have a point."

Dean smiled and turned the music up. He was relieved that he didn't have to tell Sam that the real reason he was along was to keep him out of their dad's hair so the man could rest.

"Whoa, check out that Chevy," Dean said as they pull up to a stop light next to a '57 light blue Bel Air convertible. "Nice wheels," he called to the driver.

The guy driving turned with a smile. "Hey, thanks." Then, they got a look at each other.

"Xander?"

"Dean? Sam? What brings you guys back to town."

Seeing the light about to change, Dean called out, "Pull over up ahead."

Getting out of the Impala, Dean did a slow walk around Xander's uncle's Bel Air, clearly admiring the classic car. "Aren't you a thing of beauty? Dude, where'd you find her?"

"My uncle. He had a few too many DUI's and needed some cash," Xander replied with as much nonchalance as he could muster.

"Is this is the 283 fuel-injected V8? Double barreled carb, right?" Dean's eyes were gleaming.

Xander was clueless. "Um, yeah."

Sam leaned against the Impala. "Dean, don't you have somewhere to be?"

"Yeah," he grumbled. "All right, I'm going." He continued to look longingly at Xander's car. "Dude, she is sweet."

"Thanks. What are you doing back in town, anyway."

Sam rolled his eyes. "Our dad sent us here on some demon thing."

Xander nodded. He'd been told to stay out of it. It was 'too dangerous' for him to be involved. "So you're here to help, or something?" he asked trying to hide his jealousy.

"No, I'm supposed to stay out of the way, or maybe watch for vamps. Dean's supposed to offer back up."

Xander related to Sam dismissive attitude. "You and me could go vamp hunting," Xander offered.

Dean and Sam both looked at him in surprise. "Really?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, why not?" Xander smiled. "You can catch up with us later, post apocalypse."

Dean chuckled and looked from Sam to Xander. "You sure you're cool with this?" Though he was grateful Sam was going to have someone to watch over him, he didn't want either of them to feel obligated.

"Yeah, man. Sam and I have got a handle on it." Xander turned to Sam. "Get in, buddy."

Sam hopped into the car while grinning at his brother. "Call me when you're done."

* * *

><p>In the Sunnydale library, Angel and Buffy fought the Sisterhood of the Jhe while Giles and Willow attempted a spell to keep the hellmouth hidden from the demons.<p>

* * *

><p>In the Restfield Cemetery, Jack O'Toole stood over a grave and chanted. He was completely oblivious to Xander and Sam as they approached.<p>

"Vampire?" Sam whispered as he and Xander crouched behind a large tombstone.

"No, O'Toole is a total jackass from school, but not a vampire," Xander replied as they continued to watch the activity at the grave site. "But what is he up to?"

They didn't have long to wonder. Jack finished the incantation and began to dig. He turned a few shovelfuls of earth and was met with a hand reaching out from below. Xander and Sam exchanged wide eyed stares. "I've never seen a vamp that need help crawling from it's grave," Xander whispered.

"Me either," Sam answered quietly edging closer for a better look.

"Bob! Buddy! It's been a while!" Jack shouted as he grabbed the man that just crawled from the grave in a tight embrace.

"Jack! Dude! You did it. You raised me!" Bob pulled back and dusted himself off. "How long was I down?"

"Eight months, give or take a week. I had to wait for the stars to align."

"Eight months? You been taping 7th Heaven for me?"

"You know it, man." The two guys high fived each other. "Come on, let's go get the rest of the guys."

Xander looked at Sam. "That Bob Danielson. He died last spring."

"Yeah, I got that by the way he crawled from his grave," Sam replied sounding a bit like his brother with the sarcasm.

Xander frowned at him. "Why is it whenever you're around the town is crawling with zombies?"

Sam shrugged. "Just lucky, I guess."

"Well come on, we better stop them. Bob and Jack ran with a pretty rough crowd. I remember they had a friend, Dixon, that died holding up a convenience store just over a year ago."

Xander and Sam followed after the zombie gang, but unfortunately Jack and Bob made it to Jack's car long before Xander and Sam were able to double back to the '57 Chevy.

* * *

><p>Dean parked in the school's lot and pulled a pack from the trunk. He couldn't believe after all the time he skipped out from school that there would come a day he'd be breaking into one.<p>

He cautiously made his way towards the library. As he turned the corner he heard the sounds of the battle taking place inside. He swore he heard Buffy shout, "Angel!" and he quickened his step. Once through the door, he saw that the Jhe had been successful in opening the hellmouth even if most of them had been killed.

He ran straight for the giant demon and like a base runner stealing second, he slid into the gaping hole of the hellmouth.

* * *

><p>Xander and Sam caught up with Jack and Bob at the Restfield Cemetery just after they had raised Dixon. "These stakes aren't going to be any good against them," Sam said as they crept closer.<p>

"Right," Xander answered. "But what about that?" he point to a wood chipper.

"Gross, but effective. If we can get them over there."

"You know how to work one, right?"

"Yeah, but..." Sam stopped speaking as Xander rushed forward.

"Hey! O'Toole, living up to your name as a tool, huh?"

The gang of undead turned to Xander and O'Toole sneered, "Harris. You really think you're a match for us?

"My two year old niece is a match for you idiots." He picked up a shovel one of them had dropped and swung as hard as he could into Dixon's head. The contact made an awful sound that reminded Xander of Gallager smashing watermelons.

Dixon's head had been knocked askew, but it didn't fall off. Sam could tell that although the wood chipper would be able to destroy the zombies, Xander was going to require help getting the zombies into it. As Jack was preparing to attack Xander, Sam entered the fray swinging a crowbar the gang had dropped.

Unfortunately, the undead were proving to be more difficult to destroy than either Xander or Sam had contemplated. Just as it looked like Bob was going to knock Sam unconscious, someone grabbed the undead jerk and threw him back. "Hey, Xander, whose the new guy?" The girl grabbed Jack and cracked his neck, sending him to the ground but not killing him.

"Faith, Sam, Sam, Faith. I gotta say I'm glad to see you but these things aren't vamps. They're just -"

"Smelly as hell," Faith answered as she grabbed Xander's shovel and decapitated Dixon. She drew a large knife from her jacket and easily put an end to Bob.

She was about to go after Jack when Sam yelled, "Stop! He's just a guy."

Faith lowered her weapon, but Jack laughed. "Sorry, kid, but I've been dead for weeks now." He moved his hair and exposed a bullet hole. Catching Faith by surprise, he was able to knock the knife from her grip. However, he hadn't counted on Xander and Sam bum rushing him into the wood chipper.

"Well, that totally ranks as the most disgusting kill of the month," Faith said as she looked away.

"Let's get out of here," Xander said shutting off the machine. "Need a ride Faith?"

"Sure, when'd you get a car? Or does it belong to dimples here?"

"I'm borrowing one from my uncle," Xander answered as Sam blushed slightly at her name for him.

Once at the car, Faith took a minute to admire it. "Sweet ride, Xan!" Then, she jumped over the door and slid to the middle of the front seat. "Well, come on boys, the night's a wastin'. Let's go have us a good time."

Sam threw Xander a worried questioning look, but Xander assured him with a nod and climbed into his car.

* * *

><p>Dean strategically placed the charges just as his father had told him and climbed out of the hellmouth. Buffy, fearing the worst, had been about to jump in after him when he reemerged. He grabbed her arm and yelled, "Take cover!" The explosion that followed, killed the demon, and knocked everyone to the ground.<p>

Dean did his best to shelter Buffy from the blast, landing on top of her, bracketing his arms around her. As the dust settled, Buffy was too stunned to speak. She could only blink up at him.

"You all right?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Singed at all?"

She shook her head. "No, you?"

"I think I'm good," he said rolling off of her.

Finally, coming to her senses she asked, "Not covered in demon goo, am I?"

"No, you seem to be goo free." He got up and held a hand out to assist her to her feet. Dean turned to the others in the room. "Everyone okay?"

"How did you do that?" Willow asked from behind a toppled bookshelf.

Dean grinned. "Never underestimate the value of a well placed explosive."

Angel glared. He did not like how Dean looked at Buffy, but more than that, he didn't like how Buffy was looking at Dean. "Buffy, you sure you're okay?"

Dean quickly turned to examine the slayer for injuries and noticed she seemed to be favoring her arm. "You did get hurt," he said softly.

Buffy blinked up at Dean then addressed Angel. "It's nothing, I'll be fine."

Giles touched her arm and she winced. "Looks like you may have strained it a bit." he made a disapproving face. "I'll get a sling."

Dean looked around at the mess and took a subtle glance at Angel. Clearing his throat, Dean asked, "So, uh, you need help cleaning up this mess?"

"Don't worry. We got it," Angel said stepping up to Buffy.

Dean smirked. "All right, well, I guess I'm out of here then. Uh, later, Buffy." He nodded at Willow and walked out.

* * *

><p>"Sam, I don't know. We should probably get back to Dad," Dean said trying to ignore his brother's puppy eyes.<p>

"Dean, it'll be fun. And aren't you always saying we deserve a little fun?" Sam saw that his argument was working. "Obviously, you can do whatever you want. Drop me off and go to the Bronze or some other bar. You don't really want to spend today driving, do you?" Dean sighed; a sure sign Sam was winning. "_And _I will totally owe you for, like, forever."

"Damn straight you will."

* * *

><p>"Hi, Mrs. Summers." Sam said with a bright smile.<p>

"Sam, Dean, I'm glad you two could make it. Come in," Joyce opened the door wider.

"Uh, I'm just dropping Sam off. What time should I be back to pick him up?" Dean tried his best to sound polite and stay outside at the same time.

"Oh, Dean, can't you stay?I know Buffy would really appreciate you being her for her birthday party," Joyce asked while Sam made begged with his eyes behind her.

Dean forced a smile. "Sure, Mrs. Summers, I guess I can stay for a little while."

Joyce was very pleased with herself. "Let me take your coats and you go on in and make yourselves at home."

Sam walked into the living room with Dean dragging behind him. Buffy squealed when she saw them. "Hey! I can't believe you guys stayed for my party!"

"Wouldn't miss it," Sam said returning her grin.

"Hey, Dimples, who's your friend?"

Dean coughed over a laugh while Sam said, "Faith, this is my brother, Dean. Dean, this is Faith, the other slayer."

Dean gave her an impressed once over and Faith returned the look but for completely different reasons. "Well, I guess we're covered if zombies show up," Dean joked.

"Yeah, all we need is a wood chipper," Faith teased pulling Sam to sit by her.

* * *

><p>About an hour later, Dean was wishing zombies would show up. He felt out of place with Buffy and her friends. Before his boredom drove him completely insane, his phone rang. He checked the ID and said to Sam, "It's Dad." He flipped his phone open and walked out the back door to answer. "Hey, Dad."<p>

"Hey, Dean, Giles called, said you did a great job yesterday."

"Yeah, it was pretty straightforward, just like you said it would be. Sam had a run in with some kid raising his friends from the dead."

"Zombies? Again? You're kidding me."

"Sammy stuffed one in a wood chipper," Dean said with obvious pride.

"Unbelievable." John chuckled and shook his head. "How late are you gonna be?"

Dean shrugged, "I'm not sure. Sam talked me into staying for Buffy's party, so just a couple extra hours."

John groaned, "All right, try not to wake me up when you get back."

After his father disconnected, Dean stared at his phone in disbelief. "Seriously?" he mumbled to no one and sat down on Buffy's back porch.

* * *

><p>Buffy knew her mom meant well, but this party wasn't what she had in mind. Her birthday was last week, and even though it had been all kinds of awful, she didn't want a 'do-over'. She wanted time to relax and not think about being the slayer or Faith or college or Angel or anyone else.<p>

Tired of it all, Buffy stepped onto her back porch for some air.

Dean watched her for a moment realizing she didn't know he was there. "Happy birthday."

Buffy blinked in surprise at seeing him. "Thanks."

"I hope it's a great year for you."

"Thanks. Can't be worse than last year, right?" she sighed. "So, you guys gonna be in town for a while?"

"No, we're only still here for this party. I mean, I brought Sammy here for this party." Dean shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He hoped that didn't sound insulting.

Buffy nodded and leaned towards him. "Not you? You're not here for my party." She teased slightly.

Dean smiled at her teasing tone. "Sam was the one invited, your mom just kinda insisted I stay."

"So is that why you're out here? You don't really want to be at the party?" Buffy couldn't help feeling a little hurt and disappointed by his admission.

"No, my dad called." He held up his phone as if it was proof of the call, and suddenly looked a little sad. "Why are you out here?"

"My birthdays kinda suck. Last year it was the whole Angelus thing. This year there was the slayer test and then Giles got fired as my watcher. My dad was supposed to take me to a show, but he canceled. I just wanted to veg out and do nothing."

Dean chuckled, "I know the feeling."

Buffy looked skeptical. "Sure, you do. I bet on your birthday you party like a rock star."

"Not exactly"

"Really, what do you do?"

"I hang out in a slayer's back yard," he mumbled barely above a whisper about to make up a story.

Disbelieving him Buffy asked, "It's your birthday?" before he could cover it up.

"Yeah," he admitted, though he immediately regretted that he said anything.

"And you're here? Why?"

Dean gave her a half shrug and looked into her dark back yard. Why was he there? Because Sam thought it would be fun? He had nowhere else to be? He hadn't had a real birthday since he was four. Uncomfortable under her gaze, he wished he was anywhere else. "You should go back inside, your boyfriend is probably here by now and looking for you."

"He's not my boyfriend."

Dean raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Buffy, I've been the new guy in town enough times to recognize the look he gives me every time you talk to me. Believe me, he thinks he's your boyfriend."

"No. He might be protective, but he's not my boyfriend."

Dean studied her for a moment. "Well, if you want to use me to make him jealous, I'm totally fine with it."

Buffy huffed a surprised laugh.

"You laugh?" Dean feigned injury. "I'm hurt. You don't think I have it what it takes to make him jealous?"

Buffy giggled in earnest.

Dean smiled. "That's better. We can't have the birthday girl looking all mopey, ruins the party mood."

Buffy smiled warmly at him. "Come back inside with me. I'll tell my mom it's your birthday. We can split the cake. Put on more candles." She held a hand out to him.

Dean's smiled instantly faded. At five, he had learned that wishes made on birthday candles don't come true. "No. I'd rather not. I don't do birthdays or the cake and candle thing."

"Dean, don't be silly. It's no bother and I promise no one will mind."

"Buffy, please, I hate all that kind of stuff. I'm good, really. I'll just come back later for Sam." He stood up to say goodbye, but remembered his coat was inside.

Buffy was about to plead one more time, but she saw his pained expression. "Sorry."

Dean instantly felt guilty for bringing her down during her party. "Buffy, it's not you. I just haven't had a good birthday since I was four and my mom told me I was going to be a big brother." He bit his lip, stunned that once again Buffy pulled his secrets from him. "Wow, I'm gonna climb out of my pity party now and let you get back to the actual party."

At that moment, Joyce called from the back door, ""Hey, you two, come on, it's cake time."

Buffy grabbed Dean's hand denying him a chance to decline the offer.

In the Summer's dining room, everyone gathered around to sing to a smiling Buffy. Then they shouted, "Make a wish!" Buffy caught Dean's eye, smiled playfully, and blew out her candles.

* * *

><p>Dean did his best to avoid Buffy for the rest of the night and tried to enjoy watching Faith flirt shamelessly with his kid brother. Every once in a while he'd catch Buffy watching him and he'd smile.<p>

All too soon for Sam, the Winchesters had to leave. "Hey, Buffy, thanks for inviting us, but it's getting kinda late and we have a long drive ahead."

Buffy hugged Sam close. "Thanks for being here. I'm so glad you were able to make it." She looked around. "Where's Dean?"

Sam was distracted by Faith smirking at him. "Uh, he went to get our coats."

Buffy quietly raced up the stairs before the others would notice she was gone. She literally crashed into Dean as he was leaving her mother's room with Sam's coat in hand. "Oh, sorry, Buffy, I didn't see you."

"I wanted to thank you for coming to my party," she said without moving back. She willed her nerves to steady as she looked up at him.

Dean smiled and tilted his head. "It was - fun."

"But not really how you wanted to spend _your _birthday."

"Buffy, " he shook his head and leaned against the door frame. He wasn't going to let himself bring her down again. "How about you? Looked like you made quite the haul."

Buffy had barely been listening. She was concentrating on calming the hyperactive butterflies in her stomach. Instead of answering his question, Buffy whispered, "Happy birthday," stretched up on her toes and pressed her lips to his. When Dean didn't shove her away instantly, Buffy gently slid a hand to the back of his neck. His lips were warm and soft, and before she was aware of what was happening, her tongue was teasing those lips.

Dean's mind screamed at him to stop. She was his brother's crush and she was only... EIGHTEEN. Remembering that magic number, Dean's mind gave the rest of him permission to follow her lead. After all, Buffy was kissing him, _he_ hadn't gone after _her_.

Buffy was amazed at Dean's warmth and gentleness as he wrapped his arms around her. She could feel the heat rising between them. Kissing Angel was never like this. He was passionate, but cold and hard. Although she nearly had Dean pinned to the wall, Dean, for his part, was holding her to him. Buffy's heart was pounding so hard, she thought she'd go deaf from it and under her hand, she could feel Dean's pulse quicken also. She only broke the kiss to whisper in his ear, "That's what I wished for when I blew out my candles."

Speechless, Dean could only stare at her before a noise from downstairs made them draw apart Buffy hurried to her room and shut the door, leaving Dean, alone and bewildered in the hall.

* * *

><p>Once they were back on the road, Sam said, "Thanks, Dean. I know that's not how you wanted to spend your birthday. I promise I'll make it up to you."<p>

Dean smiled and turned up the music. "The night didn't completely suck, Sam. The cake was pretty good,' he added quickly.


	5. Chapter 5

AN: Thanks for the lovely reviews. I've been asked about their ages in this fic and I did some research. Buffy was a college freshman in the fall of 1999 and she was 18. Dean was 20 in 1999 and Sam, well, that's where it gets interesting. Seems I'm not the only one confused about Sam's age. According to the Supernatural wiki, even cannon has some questions. But, since he was born in 1983, he'd be 16. But for the purpose of this fic, let's age him up to 17. Thanks for playing along.

* * *

><p><strong>Spring 1999<strong>

"Come on, dammit, pick up!" Dean paced the tiny motel room, his worried eyes flashing from his brother's nervous face to the television and back again. When he heard the answering machine, he looked at Sam. "I got the machine…. Hey, it's Dean Winchester. Sam and I are just calling to make sure you're okay. Call me as soon as you get this, okay?" He hung up, met his brother's anxious gaze, and shrugged. "I'm sure she's fine, Sam. She'll call. It was probably her that did that anyway." He looked at the newscast covering the destruction of Sunnydale High. Words like devastation and death toll were making his stomach turn. Though he did his best to reassure Sam, deep down, Dean feared that Buffy may not have survived her high school graduation.

Exhausted beyond anything she felt before, Buffy slept for sixteen straight hours. When she awoke, it was to the smell of bacon frying and coffee brewing. She bolted down the stairs. "Mom!"

Joyce smiled and hugged her daughter. "How're you feeling, dear? You've must be starving."

Not letting go of her mother, Buffy nodded, "I am starving, but I am so glad you're home!"

Joyce kissed the top of Buffy's head. "Me too. Now, go have a seat at the table, I made us some breakfast."

As they ate, Joyce asked, "Did you listen to the messages? You got one from Dean Winchester. He wanted to know if you were okay. You know, what happened at the school made the national news. Well, anyway, he left a number." Joyce pointed to the pad by the phone.

Buffy's brows shot up. Dean called? She would have expected to hear from Sam, but Dean? She studied the number as she took the note up to her room. Going to her desk, she pulled out the folded paper from last summer with Sam's address written on it. There at the bottom was the same number. Dean had given her his number back in L.A. and she hadn't even realized it.

* * *

><p>"This is Dean."<p>

"Hi Dean, it's Buffy."

Buffy could hear his sigh of relief. "Thank god. Sam, it's Buffy," he said to his brother before returning to the phone, "You're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. You know I know the value of a well placed explosive." She smiled hearing Dean's small laugh at that. "And, in spite of all the destruction, I got my diploma."

"Of course you did." Dean tried to smile at her casual attitude, but found he had a lump in his throat. "Glad you're okay." He could see his brother nearly jumping off the bed with anxiety and figured he should let the two friends talk. "Uh. Well, I guess you want to talk to Sammy. So – here, Sam."

Dean handed the phone to his brother and didn't hear Buffy's "Wait." He left the room to give his brother some privacy. Leaning against the exterior wall of the motel, Dean took a few deep breaths to settle his nerves. He hadn't realized he had been so anxious to hear from her.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

On the other end of the line, Buffy nervously toyed with Mr. Gordo. After she told Sam the tale of the Mayor trying to become a demon, Buffy knew that she had to tell Sam about Faith. "Sam, I have to tell you something, and you're not going to like it."

Sam could hear the tension in her voice and it raised the anxiety he was already feeling. "It's okay, Buffy, whatever you've got to say, just say it." He prayed none of the friends he had made in Sunnydale had been killed.

"It's about Faith," she began. Buffy barreled through the story of Faith killing the deputy mayor and the professor. Her voice got quieter as she told him how Faith had tried to kill Angel and her and that Buffy was forced to put Faith in a coma. The silence from Sam was deafening. "Sam? I am sorry. I had to."

Sam was quiet for another second. "Couldn't you have tried to help her?"

"I'm sorry, Sam, but Faith went dark side almost right after you left."

Sam didn't agree with Buffy and he definitely didn't think Faith had been lying to him the entire time, but he didn't want to argue with Buffy. "Well, I'm glad you and Willow and Xander are okay. Maybe Dean and I can get to Sunnydale sometime this summer and hang out with you guys."

Buffy smiled. It sounded like Sam wasn't going to stay angry with her. "I'd like that Sam. You and Dean are always fun to have around."

* * *

><p><strong>August 1999<strong>

One early August day, at three in the morning, Dean's cell phone woke him. He whispered, "Hello?" and crept from his bed in the room he shared with Sam to the kitchen of the small house they had rented.

"Hi, Dean, it's Buffy. Did I wake you?"

"No. I mean, yeah, it's three a. m., but don't worry about it. What's going on?" he yawned.

Buffy looked at her clock which read just passed midnight. "Sorry. I didn't think it'd be so late where you are. It's only midnight here. I'll call some other-"

"- Wait, Buffy, it's okay. You don't have to hang up. What's up? Why'd you call? Do you need something?"

Buffy had been bored and a bit lonely. She didn't actually have a real reason for calling him. "Not really. I just hadn't heard from you guys in a while. I was hoping everything was okay. I thought maybe Sam was still mad at me."

"We're good. Sam couldn't stay mad at you even if you killed his puppy." Dean rubbed his eyes. "Did you want to talk to him?"

Buffy sighed softly. "No, Dean, I'm sorry I called so late. I'll let you get back to sleep."

"No, hey, it's cool. I'm awake now." He walked to the refrigerator and opened a can of Coke. "I was just thinking about you the other day."

"Really?" Buffy asked in surprise.

"Yeah. Sammy and I were at this little diner and we had this god-awful waitress. Sam said she was the worst ever, but then I reminded him about you."

"Dean! I was not that bad."

"Trust me, sweetheart, you were pretty bad in the beginning. You didn't even know which tables were yours, let alone how to keep an order straight."

"Fine. I admit I was a horrible waitress. What did this poor woman do to take my title as world's worst waitress?"

Dean chuckled. "She gave Sam the wrong order three times. And you know Sam, he's all 'Uh excuse me, this isn't what I ordered.'" Dean said in a high whiny voice to imitate Sam's. "The woman finally yells at him, 'If you wouldn't mumble like a little girl, maybe you'd get your order.' Sam just stared at her like an idiot. I was laughing so hard I was crying."

"Aww, poor Sam."

"It was his own fault. The rest of the place either ate what she gave them or exchanged it with other tables. The regulars knew what to expect. I think she's worked there since Roosevelt was president."

"At least I got better with time."

"Yeah, a little I guess," Dean admitted. "So, why don't you tell me the real reason why you called? I know it wasn't to hear me talk about waitresses. You couldn't really think Sam was angry with you, did you?"

"Mostly, I was bored. Xander's on his 'epic cross country road trip'. Willow and Oz are around, but I feel like a third wheel when I'm with them. The town's been pretty quiet only one or two vamps a week. It's just that..."

Dean waited for her to continue, "It's just what, Buffy?"

"A couple days ago the vamp I dusted was a girl I went to school with. It's not the first time a kid I went to school with turned into a vamp, but I know she was changed during graduation. I guess it kinda feels like it was my fault, you know? Because I couldn't protect her."

Dean pulled the tab off his soda can as he thought of what to say. "That girl isn't your fault, Buffy. Look at the big picture. If it wasn't for you, a lot of other things – worse things – would have happened."

Buffy decided she needed to change the subject."Where are you? What have you guys been up to?"

"Cutler, Maine. Just about as far from Sunnydale as you can get. Dad's working on a shape shifter case."

They talked for the next hour, until Dean heard her yawn. "Hey, you should probably get to bed. It's pretty late."

"It's later for you."

"Nah, now it's early."

Buffy gave a soft laugh and felt better than she had in a while. "Bye, Dean. Sorry for keeping you up so late."

"Hey, don't worry about it. Seriously, you can call anytime you want."

* * *

><p><strong>Fall 1999<strong>

With the start of college, Buffy was too busy to have time to call the Winchesters. Crazy demon room mate, Oz and Willow breaking up, and the dating disaster known as Parker Abrams took up most of her time; and that didn't include attending classes and Professor Walsh.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

One November morning, Buffy stood in a long line at the Espresso Pump. "Why is this line moving so slow?" the girl in front of her asked her friend.

"You only think it's slow 'cause you haven't had your caffeine, yet," her friend teased. "I don't mind the wait at all," she added with a nudge to her friend's side.

"Hmm? What?"

"Check out the eye candy," she inclined her head to her right. Her friend leaned forward to see who she was looking at.

"Wouldn't mind being the cream in his coffee," she said quietly.

Buffy stood on her tip toes to see, but wasn't able to look around the line. Settling back down on her heels she sighed. She'd sworn off men after the Parker fiasco, but that didn't mean she couldn't look.

"Oh my god, Susan, did you see him lick his lips?" The one asked as they took a step forward. "Just when I thought he couldn't get hotter."

Susan must have seen the lip licking, because she was nodding. "I'd a offered to lick that for him." Buffy leaned again, but still couldn't see anyone. Susan whispered, "I'm gonna see if they can wrap him up to go."

Finally, the line moved forward enough for Buffy to see who they were drooling over. After a slow blink to prove her eyes weren't deceiving her, her mouth fell open and her breath caught on a laugh. Stepping from the line, she approached the 'hot' guy's table. "Dean?"

The guy looked up from his paper, then his face broke into a near blinding smile. "Buffy!" He stood up from the table. "Hey, what are you doing here?"

"Me?" her voice suddenly sounded too high. "Getting coffee, but, I live here. What are you doing here?" she asked as they hugged hello.

Dean grinned, then held his hand out to invite her to sit with him, as he sat. "Having coffee," he said as if it were obvious. "But, hey, you look great. And, before you say anything, I called," he added with a teasing point at her. "Your mom said you were at school."

Buffy's face lit up, he called? She pulled out a chair. "Yeah, I go to UC - Sunnydale."

Dean's brow wrinkled, "I thought I remembered something about you going to Northwestern or was it Purdue?"

Buffy shook her head and waved away that idea. "Didn't pan out." She shrugged. "I have family, responsibilities, and good friends here. I just couldn't leave all that."

Dean drank her in for a minute. "I thought you said you were here for coffee. Where -"

"Well, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw you. I had to come over and say hi before you left."

"I rate higher than coffee? Gee, I'm flattered," he teased as he picked up his phone and texted for a second. "So, how are you liking the whole college thing?"

Buffy shrugged. "It has it's moments. There's more work, but the number of parties makes up for it."

"I bet you're breaking hearts at these parties." Dean grinned at her while he fished for an answer.

Buffy fought her blush shook her head. "Ah, no. I've kinda sworn off men."

"Oh," Dean cursed his timing but played it off with a teasing leer. "Does that mean you're into girls?" He leaned closer and lowered his voice. "I'm okay with it, if you are. I read in a magazine that college girls often experiment."

Buffy looked at him in shock, not sure if he was teasing her or not. "No, bad break up, sort of. Well, more like a bad date, I guess, since it was only one date. Actually, the date was okay. Just later, like the next day, Parker acted like I was – like we – " Buffy shrugged, Dean was looking at her with a raised brow as she spoke. Before she could babble any more, she was interrupted by a slightly familiar voice.

"Dean, since when do you like caramel machia - Oh my god, Buffy?" Sam set two coffee drinks on the table as Buffy looked up at him.

"Sam?" Buffy stood and pulled him into a hug. "Holy cow, have you gotten taller?"

Dean snickered as the two hugged their hellos. "Buffy, it's so good to see you. How'd you know we were here?" Sam asked not even trying to hide his joy at seeing her again.

"I didn't," she replied in just as much surprise as him. "I come here every morning for coffee. I had no idea you guys were even in town."

"You didn't? I thought –, Dean?"

"What? I can't give away all my secrets," Dean winked. "Sammy's here for a college visit. He's thinking of attending UC-Sunnydale next year."

"Really?" Buffy squealed. "That's great. I can totally show you around if you want."

"You would? Are you sure it wouldn't be a problem? I don't want to interfere with your classes or anything."

"It wouldn't be a problem at all. I'm sure Willow would show you around, too." Buffy was practically beaming. "In fact I have class with Willow in," she looked at her watch, "oh crap, so gonna be late, and of course Professor Walsh would have to be a hard ass about attendance."

The Winchesters laughed. "Come on. The car's parked right outside. We can give you a lift. Sam's got an appointment with the admission office anyway," Dean offered.

Buffy smiled as she stood up. "Coming to my rescue, just like old times."

* * *

><p>"You'll never guess who I saw at the coffee shop this morning," Buffy whispered as she took her seat next to Willow in the lecture hall. Without waiting for Willow's reply, Buffy answered, "Sam and Dean. Sam's here on a campus visit. Want to help me give him the tour?" Buffy hoped the visit would take Willow's mind off of her break up with Oz.<p>

The return of the Winchesters didn't excite Willow as much as it did Buffy. Since breaking up with Oz, nothing excited Willow. However, she agreed to help Buffy 'play hostess' to the brothers; that didn't mean she had to stop being depressed. Willow didn't understand why Buffy was so happy to see them, hadn't she sworn off men after Parker? As they left class, Willow's thoughts were interrupted when Buffy nudged her gently and whispered, "There they are."

Willow looked to see the Winchesters smiling at her and her previous train of thought derailed. She was now completely on board with Buffy. She found herself wondering if they had always been so tall and, seriously, did they always look like that? How had she not noticed Sam's dimples before now? And were Dean's eyes always that color? And when did it get so warm in this hall? Willow suddenly wished she had worn something nicer that morning.

Dean clapped his brother on the shoulder. "Well, I'll let you kids get to the higher learning, catch ya later."

"You're not going to tag along?" Buffy asked, disappointed that Dean was leaving.

Sam huffed a small laugh. "You'll have to excuse my brother. His idea of college is based solely on _Animal House_. He won't be happy until he sees sorority girls having a pillow fight."

Dean threw his brother a mock glare. "That's not true, Sammy. It is also based on _Revenge of the Nerds _and_ Back to School_." He grinned at the giggling Willow and Buffy.

Buffy linked an arm through his. "I'm sure there's a house party happening somewhere tonight. If you're really good, I bet you can score an invite."

Dean smirked at his brother. "See, Sammy, Buffy and Willow can handle college and parties. Maybe if you choose Sunnydale, you won't spend four years alone in a library."

Dean and Sam spent the day following Buffy and Willow to their various classes and exploring the campus. Sam thought Willow's course schedule seemed unusually demanding, and finally he asked, "What exactly is your major, Willow?"

"Oh, I kinda designed my own course of study. But I'm leaning to majoring in psychology and minoring in micro biology or econ or anthropology."

"They let you design your own curriculum here?" Sam asked.

"Well, sort of. I'm kind of a special case."

"Willow had super awesome test scores. She could have gone anywhere, so Sunnydale's lucky to have her," Buffy said with obvious pride in her best friend's accomplishments.

As Sam and Willow led the way to Stevenson Hall, Dean turned to Buffy and asked, "What's your major?"

"Undeclared, with a minor in 'can I sleep in this class because I was out slaying all night'." Buffy answered quietly, though secretly pleased that Dean laughed.

When they arrived at the dorm, Sam didn't want the day to be over. Rocking on the balls of his feet, he smiled nervously at Willow and Buffy. "Hey, you guys have been so cool to me today I should do something for you. You should let me, us, take you out for dinner," Sam suggested so quickly it took the others a minute to catch up.

Buffy and Willow looked surprised, but Dean covered for his brother. "Sam's right. College kids always need a decent meal. What d'ya say?"

Buffy didn't want to give Willow a chance to decline so she spoke up. "Okay, sounds great."

* * *

><p>Buffy insisted they eat at the College Pub because it was both cheap and tasty. The only rule was NO local micro brews. "Why's that?" Sam asked.<p>

"Uh, let's just say that me and the local beer don't get on so well."

"What happened? Overindulge one night?" Dean asked knowing there had to be a story behind her demand.

"No, well, yeah, I mean..."

"Let's just say the beer brings out Buffy's neanderthal side," Willow explained.

The brothers exchanged looks before turning to Buffy. "You will tell us what happened, right?" Sam begged. The girls refused until Dean bumped Sam's arm and the younger Winchester broke out his puppy eyes.

"Not fair. You know I can't refuse that look." Buffy gave them her most chastising look. "Well, it all started with me drinking to get over Parker."

"The evil man-slut," Willow added. "The less said about him the better."

By the time the girls were done with the story about Buffy, the Black Forrest beer, and her caveman adventures the Winchesters were nearly crying they were laughing so hard. Feigning insult, Buffy pouted. "I should have let the two of you drink some of that beer. See how you like turning into a caveman."

"You probably wouldn't notice a difference in Dean," Sam joked.

Dean let the ribbing roll off his back. "And Sammy, with your long hair you're practically a caveman already."

* * *

><p>When dinner was over, Willow seemed to be enjoying their evening enough that Buffy risked retrieving a flier she had been given earlier. "Since you've been so generous taking us out to dinner and all, I think we should return the favor and take you to a house party." Nervously, she headed to the door. No one could refuse if she didn't give them the opportunity.<p>

The house was crowded and the music was loud, but the cover charge was nominal and came with a large red Solo cup and a Sharpie to claim it. Willow was uncomfortable. These kind of parties weren't her thing but she didn't want to disappoint Buffy or the Winchesters. Sam was uncomfortable. He felt he stuck out like the high school kid he was. Dean was slightly impressed with the number and the quality of girls, but was only interested in the one that had sworn off men.

"So, Sam, did you like seeing the campus today?" Willow asked once they found a quieter place to talk.

"Yeah, it was impressive."

"What made you think about attending UC-Sunnydale?"

"It was Dean's idea. I'm applying to Stanford, too."

"Ooh," Willow gushed. "Stanford's a really good school."

Sam shifted in his seat, suddenly bashful under Willow's attention and approval. "Yeah, and it has all the programs I want. But if I don't get in, I need a fall back. Not that Sunnydale's not a good school," Sam stammered.

"It's okay, Sam, we know what you mean." Buffy watched Dean fade as Sam spoke and she remembered their conversation in L.A. "Dean, what are you going to do when Sam goes to college?"

With a forced smile Dean grabbed their cups. "I don't know about then, but now, I'm going to get us more beer."

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

The area around the keg was crowded with other guys getting refills. As he stood there, Dean overheard a guy say, "Crap, is that Buffy Summers?"

"Yeah, that's her."

The guy groaned. "Just when I was looking forward to enjoying myself."

"I thought you said you did enjoy her."

The guy chuckled. "Oh, I enjoyed her. But, well you know the difference between a toilet seat and a freshman girl? A toilet seat doesn't follow you around after you use it."

They laughed and Dean felt his blood boil. He leaned forward into their conversation. "Excuse me, are you Parker?"

Parker looked confused but answered, "Yeah, I'm Parker. Do I know – " Parker was unable to finish as Dean's fist connected with his eye, knocking Parker to the ground. Parker's friend immediately went after Dean, who easily sidestepped him and shoved him to the ground, as well.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

"What are you planning on Studying, Sam?" Buffy asked hoping to keep the conversation flowing so Willow would keep enjoying herself.

Sam laughed at himself. "Well, since I've been speaking Latin for years now, I thought I'd put it to use and study law."

"Ooh," Willow instantly perked up. "You speak Latin? Did you learn it for doing spells?" She whispered.

"Yeah. That and exorcisms, and for something to do. We travel so much I picked it up as a hobby, almost." Sam blushed slightly and quietly added., "I'm kind of a nerd, I guess."

Willow tried to laugh, but Sam's confession hit home. "Yeah, right. I'm a much bigger nerd. As a kid, I made summer reading lists for myself."

Sam stared at her in mild shock and for a second, Willow was embarrassed for admitting to that secret. But an astonished Sam laughed, "Oh my god, so did I!" He laughed more.

Buffy couldn't hide her grin, grateful Sam brought out the smile in Willow that had been missing since Oz left. Hearing the commotion from the other room, Buffy excused herself.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Buffy arrived just as two very large guys grabbed Dean by the arms and began to drag him towards the door. She looked from Dean to Parker's bloodied face and back and realized what had happened. Dean shrugged apologetically when he saw her and Buffy shook her head, amused.

While he got back on his feet, Parker witnessed the exchange. "Figures you two would know each other. You're both nuts."

Riley put a hand on the shoulder of one of the guys holding Dean. "Todd, hold up. Buffy, do you know this guy?"

"Yeah, he's a friend of mine."

"Oh, I see." Riley turned to Dean's 'captors', "Guys, you can let him go. Abrams, you're out of here. Forrest, give him his money back."

"What? Why? You can't do that! That guy started it," Parker complained.

"I can and I just did. Do you want Todd to help you find your way?" Riley smirked as Todd stepped closer to Parker. Parker shot them a dirty look as he and his friend stormed out. Riley turned to Dean and held out his hand. "Sorry, about that man. Let me get you guys more cups."

"Hey, it's no problem, we're good," Dean replied shaking Riley's hand.

As Buffy filled her cup, Riley leaned closer to Dean and said quietly, "I heard what Parker said. The guy had it coming, what an creep."

Dean shrugged. "Yeah, but I probably shouldn't have done that."

"If you hadn't, I would have. Buffy's a nice girl, a little peculiar, but nice. She doesn't deserve someone talking about her like that."

Buffy handed Dean his beer. "Thanks for letting us stay, Riley."

"My pleasure, Buffy. You guys have a good time."

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Sam watched Willow watch Buffy walk away and sighed inwardly. "You don't have to babysit me, Willow. You can go hang out with Buffy or your other friends."

Willow was stunned. "I didn't think I was babysitting, Sam. I like talking with you."

"It's okay. I know I'm not the Winchester girls swoon over, I'm the one that spends his free time in a library."

Willow wanted to giggle at how adorable she found Sam, but she could relate. "Sam, I love a good library. These parties aren't really my thing." She recognized the skeptical look on his face. "I know the first two times we met it was at parties, but I'm really not party girl. In fact, I had planned on watching the Leonids meteor shower tonight from our school's observatory"

Sam was clearly astonished. "You were? That's so cool. When I was a kid, Dean and I were camping in Montana during the Perseids meteor shower and it was amazing."

Willow perked up. "Do you want to go to the observatory and watch it with me?"

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

As Buffy and Dean made their way back to where Willow and Sam were, Dean nudged Buffy's arm. "I think that Riley guy has a thing for you."

Buffy laughed. "Riley? I don't think so."

Dean rolled his eyes dramatically. "Oh, I think so. He was all about trying to impress you back there."

Buffy leaned close to Dean. "It wasn't me he was trying to impress."

Dean's eyes bugged out of his head when he comprehended her meaning. He risked a glance back at Riley only to see the guy quickly look away. "Well, I'll be damned."

They handed Willow and Sam their beers, but the two were deep in a discussion about astronomy so Buffy led Dean around the corner.

Leaning against the wall, Buffy took a sip of her beer for courage. "So, why'd you punch Parker?"

"'Cause he's a douche bag," Dean smirked, who made you swear off men. Buffy fixed him with an expectant raise of an eyebrow and he continued, "He cut in front of a whole bunch of people in the beer line."

Buffy shook her head knowing Dean was lying but she let him off the hook. "Okay. So tell me what your plans are when Sam goes off to college? Will you still hunt with your dad?" Dean shrugged and looked into his beer. "What does your dad say about Sam going to college?"

"Nothing. He doesn't know anything about it." Buffy looked shocked but Dean kept his head down. "I thought that if Sam went to Sunnydale, my dad would be, well not on board with the idea, but, more -"

"Receptive?"

"Yeah. You know, because he'd know someone had Sam's back." He looked up at her.

Buffy offered him a soft smile. "It kind of sounded like Sam has his heart set on Stanford."

"Yeah," Dean sighed. "But, that's okay." He moved closer so only a few inches separated them. "Stanford's a good school."

As Dean's eyes roamed from her eyes to her lips and back, Buffy reminded herself to breathe and struggled to keep her voice even. "Stanford's not far from here. When you visit Sam, maybe you can stop by here, too."

Dean's eyes settled on Buffy's parted lips and he involuntarily wet his in response. "Yeah, who knows, maybe." The way Dean was looking at her made Buffy's insides celebrate; she was sure he was about to kiss her. He tucked a loose strand of her hair behind her ear. Dean opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again having changed his mind. Instead, he stepped back, tilting his head to indicate where he had left his brother, he said, "Speaking of Sam." Dean left Buffy alone in the hall.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

"Really? You sure?" Sam asked not masking his disbelief.

"I'm sure," Willow answered. "It's supposed to be one of the best places to see it."

"Well, then the observatory sounds perfect."

Willow stood up, smiling enthusiastically. "Great, I'll be right back. Wait here."

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Dean found his brother alone on the couch. "Hey, where's Willow going?"

"To get her coat," Sam answered moving over so Buffy could sit by him. "Would you guys mind if we got out of here? You guys can stay, but, Willow and I are going to head over to the observatory. There's a meteor shower tonight."

Dean studied his brother. "Hey, cool. You guys go get your geek on." Upon seeing Buffy's scowl, he added. "You know in a good 'go out and see rocks fall from space' kind of way." He addressed Buffy, "You want me to take you back to your dorm or do you want -"

"We'll go with you," Buffy decided cheerfully oblivious to the brother's quickly exchanged looks. She decided hanging out with Dean by the observatory had romantic possibilities.

"Or we could stay here or go to a bar or something," Dean suggested shooting Sam a small 'don't worry I got this' look.

Willow returned with her coat. "Hey, Sam and I are going to check out the meteor shower. You guys want to come with us?"

"Yeah, Wills. Lead the way," Buffy answered.

* * *

><p>At the observatory, Dean took some blankets out of the trunk. He tossed one to Sam then spread his on the car's trunk. He picked up Buffy and set her on the car's trunk before climbing up himself. Sam and Willow sat on the hood.<p>

It was quite chilly and the girls were grateful to cuddle against a Winchester. As nonchalantly as he could, Sam slipped his arm around Willow. As she settled in the crook of his shoulder, Sam thought he could stay like that all night. His only concern was that Willow didn't hear how his heart was pounding.

On the trunk of the Impala, Buffy and Dean were nearly mirroring Sam and Willow. Though Buffy was thoroughly enjoying being in Dean's arms, Dean wasn't as content. He had been thrown off his game.

He had started this little trip to Sunnydale with a script like this as its goal. Put any other girl in this scenario with him, and Dean could guarantee the outcome. Now, he had to ignore his desire to be with Buffy and show her he wasn't like Parker.

Looking up at the night sky Buffy whispered, "This is beautiful. It's so peaceful."

"Yes it is," Dean agreed, looking up quickly to make sure she wouldn't catch him watching her. "Too bad you still need to patrol tonight."

Buffy groaned inwardly. She was perfectly happy laying next to Dean. Why did she have to be the slayer tonight? She pushed herself up onto her side and faced him. "I could do it later."

The intense look in Dean's eyes made her breath hitch. Buffy was sure he was about to pull her into a kiss. She found herself staring at his lips as he said, "I could go with you if you wanted to go now and get it over with."

Disappointed, Buffy dropped her head and sighed. I'd much rather stay here, she thought, returning to her previous position nestled against his side. "Let's stay here. We can hunt bad guys after the meteor shower."

Dean ignored the inclination to pull her closer and tried to focus on the stars shooting across the sky instead of how good it felt to hold her.

Dean's inaction made Buffy twitchy. Her mind wrestled with the obligation to patrol and the desire to stay curled next to Dean. Above all, she wondered why he wasn't acting interested in her. After a few minutes, she sat up. "I need to go back to my dorm."

"Why?"

"Because you're right. I should patrol and I didn't bring anything."

"Babe, you're sitting on an arsenal," Dean smirked. Buffy followed his lead as he slid off the trunk. Dean opened the trunk and grinned, "Help yourself."

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Dean walked over to the front of the car. "Sam, we're going to patrol. Keep an eye out for zombies."

"Not funny, Dean."

"Not joking, Sam. How many times have we been to Sunnydale?"

"Twice." Sam rolled his eyes knowing where this conversation was headed.

"How many times have you had to face the undead while we were here?"

"That's not -"

"How many?"

Sam sighed, "Twice."

"Let's not make it a third." Dean held out the keys for Sam. "Meet us back at the dorm."

* * *

><p>Other than one vampire, patrol had been quiet. Buffy realized that all of Sunnydale had seemed quiet lately.<p>

They were nearly back to her dorm, but Dean didn't want the night to be over. In a desperate attempt to delay saying good night, Dean asked, "So , Willow, uh, I thought she had a boyfriend? Ozzy or something? What happened?"

"Oz. They broke up. He cheated on her. Even though she forgave him, he quit school and left."

Dean thought for a second. "He cheated on her but she forgave him. You have one bad date with an asshole and you swear off men. That's harsh." His smile let her know he was teasing.

Surprised, by his taunt, Buffy rounded on him to explain, but when she saw his smile, she smiled, too. "Oh, you think I was too quick to judge?"

"Maybe." He shrugged and stopped to slouch against a wall. "Not all guys are like Parker."

"I know, but most guys are only after one thing. I'm starting to feel like there is a pattern here. – Open your heart to someone, and he bails on you. Maybe it's easier to just not let anyone in."

"What can I say? You're a very pretty girl. That makes it difficult to think about anything else."

Buffy rolled her eyes, not believing his sincerity.

To be honest with himself, Dean knew he wasn't in love with Buffy. But of all the girls he had been with, he had only been honest with her. There was just something about her that made him want to be better than what he was. He didn't want her to think he was 'after one thing', but, if he was being honest, he hadn't been looking for much more.

"I didn't set up a college visit for my little brother and stake out coffee shops because I wanted to be your friend," he admitted truthfully.

Caught off guard by his confession, Buffy's head swam. "What did you want?"

"I thought that would be obvious." His eyes searched her face and he felt he urge to pull her into his arms and show her exactly how much he wanted her. Instead, he took a breath so he wouldn't act on those feelings.

Buffy saw the yearning in Dean's eye before he looked away. Summoning her courage, she asked, "What about what I want?"

"What do you-"

He couldn't finish his question. Buffy pressed her lips to his and her fist full of his shirt brought him closer. As the kiss deepened, Dean slowly backed her against the wall and surrendered to the attraction he felt.

Buffy was grateful she didn't actually squeal with delight. However a chorus of o_hmygod-ohmygod-ohmygod _sang through her head. Dean had one hand cupping the back of her head while the other was at the small of her back hugging her to him. Just as Buffy was sure her knees were actually going to buckle, a breathless Dean broke the kiss. He rested his forehead against hers and panted, "God, I want, um, I gotta stop. Uh, Sam."

Buffy looked up at him completely confused. "Sam?"

"I've got to meet Sam at your dorm. I can't just dump him on Willow and I can't ditch him for the night."

"Oh, right." Buffy gently caressed his face. "I guess we should go," she murmured then she tilted her head to kiss him gently.

Dean made a soft, near whimper before allowing himself to give in again. Several heart pounding, mind numbing minutes later, he groaned as he pulled back. "Buffy," his voice a breathless whisper, "you're making me into is the guy I'm trying really hard not to be."

Buffy backed away. "What do you mean?"

"I want to be with you Buffy, that's why I'm here, that's why I did all this. But, I don't want you to think I'm like that Parker asshole."

Stunned, Buffy argued, "You're nothing like Parker."

Dean shook his head. "I'm exactly like Parker." He began to lead her towards her dorm so she won't scrutinize him with those looks that always make him admit more than he intended. "I've lied to girls to get them to sleep with me. And, I rarely look for a second date."

"You've never lied to me."

"Well, no, but..."

"And if you count all the time we hung out in L.A. and the time we went out for ice cream _and _my birthday _and_ tonight – we've had more than one date."

"Buffy, those weren't dates, and this isn't a -"

"Shut up, Dean, I'm trying to help us out here."

Dean looked at her amused. "Sorry, please continue."

Buffy gave him a half smile as she took his arms and put them around her. Then, she wrapped her arms around his neck. "I wish we didn't have to settle for making out in the hallway, but there's always next time," she murmured against his lips.

"'Next time'?" he asked, confident in the answer as they kissed.

After several long minutes, they separated, each feeling the twinge of disappointment. Buffy kept her arm around him as they walked to her dorm.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Once there, Dean knocked on the wall and door. "What are you doing?" Buffy laughed, her hand going to the doorknob. "It's my room."

He took her hand off the knob. "Just announcing our arrival, in case."

"In case? In case of what?"

"You know," Dean whispered inclining his head toward the door.

"Willow and Sam?" Buffy giggled loudly. "You don't know Willow if you think something's happening in there."

Dean kept his hand on hers. "Hey," Dean whispered, "maybe nothing is going on, but I'm not interested in surprising them if that's not the case."

Buffy noisily fumbled with her keys before opening the door to find Sam and Willow innocently lounging on Willow's bed watching TV.

"Hey, you're back. Did everything go okay?" Willow asked.

"Yep, dusted the only vamp we saw. How about you guys? Any 'undead', Sam?"

Sam smirked. "No, no zombies. We watched the meteor shower and came back here." He climbed off the bed, pulling Willow with him. He wrapped her in a bear hug. "Thanks for everything, Willow, you've been great."

"It was fun hanging out with you, Sam. Remember, Stanford's not far from here, you can visit anytime."

Then Sam grabbed Buffy in a hug. "Thanks for showing me around, Buffy, and for putting up with Dean."

"Hey," Dean complained, slapping Sam upside his head. "I'm not that bad." Taking Buffy in his arms for a quick hug, he whispered, "Looking forward to next time."

* * *

><p>*Parker's line describing Buffy is from the episode.<p> 


End file.
